The Africa Mental Health Data Repository is an open-access  platform designed to strengthen research, innovation and evidence-based policymaking in the continent. It brings together datasets on anxiety, depression and psychosis from across Africa into a single centralised resource. 

The repository lists cross-sectional, repeated cross-sectional, longitudinal panel, cohort, case-control, randomized controlled trial, quasi-experimental and qualitative studies. The target population can include households, communities, adolescents or youth, children, pregnant women and routinely collected registry data in different contexts.  

This resource is designed to support secondary analysis by making existing datasets easier to discover, compare and use for research questions. Rather than providing access to the underlying data itself, the repository brings together detailed metadata on studies, enabling researchers to identify relevant datasets by design, population, geography, measurement, data types, target groups and access conditions. 

Developed through the Wellcome-funded Mental Health Data Prize: Africa and delivered in partnership with the African Population and Health Research Center, the platform is tailored to reflect the diversity and specificity of African data landscapes, spanning multiple study designs and domains.  

Emerging from Wellcome’s broader Mental Health Data Prize initiative (2024–2026), which supports African teams to leverage existing data and develop new analytical tools, the repository represents a key step in advancing data-led mental health science. It complements ongoing efforts to build capacity, integrate lived experience into research, and accelerate the translation of data into meaningful impact for people experiencing mental health challenges. 

Visit the repository