Mental Health: The Role of Health Status and Economic Wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa

Anna Verjans , Centre d'Estudis Demografics
Elisenda Rentería, Centre for Demographic Studies
Jeroen Spijker, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

The burden of common mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, has increased over recent years, with countries in sub-Saharan Africa experiencing a higher burden. Simultaneously, the prevalence of chronic conditions is on the rise in the region, with health systems that have limited resources unable to meet the increasing needs. This study aims to uncover the role of health status, economic wellbeing and living arrangements in mental health outcomes in a setting characterized by expectations of intergenerational support, declining household sizes, economic migration and internal displacements due to violence and natural disasters. Using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys from Lesotho (2023-2024) and Mozambique (2022-2023), we investigate the role of health status, economic wellbeing and living arrangements in symptoms of depression and anxiety, as measured by the PHQ-9 and GAD-7. We implement multilevel logistic regression models including level effects at the cluster (village/city block) and individual level, while accounting for the complex two-stage sampling survey design. We intent to include sex, age, education, employment status, marital status, household composition, migration status, chronic disease status, wealth quintile as individual-level variables and urban residence, average cluster altitude and ecological zone as cluster-level variables. As shown in previous literature, we expect to find that those with a chronic condition, females and those with lower economic wellbeing have higher odds of experiencing depressive and anxiety symptoms. At the cluster level, we also expect to find variation between urban and rural areas.

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 Presented in Session 23. Mental Health, Cognition and Wellbeing