Mental health research in Mozambique’s 18 million young people remains scarce, review finds

Mozambique’s 18 million children and adolescents are largely underrepresented in mental health research, and a new systematic review has now mapped just how thin the evidence base is. The review, registered with PROSPERO (CRD420251016208), searched PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Google Scholar, the African Index Medicus and local catalogues for studies covering people aged 0 to 19 years, following COSMIN and Cochrane extraction manuals. It identified 81 unique publications: 61 reports presenting prevalence estimates drawn from 25 studies, 29 reports covering 42 assessment instruments, and 9 reports describing 8 intervention trials.

Clinical prevalence of mental disorders was estimated in only two surveys. In Nampula, a survey of 748 children aged 6 to 18 years found an ADHD prevalence of 13.4 percent. In Maputo, among 486 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, 23 percent received any mental diagnosis, with anxiety disorders at 17.5 percent, major depressive episodes at 8.5 percent, disruptive behaviour disorders at 6.6 percent, substance use disorders at 4.5 percent, ADHD at 3.3 percent and PTSD at 1.2 percent. The authors caution that these figures come from limited clinical data rather than a comprehensive national picture.

Most of the available research focused instead on psychosocial adversities. Nationally representative adolescent surveys reported substantial exposure to violence: 24.86 percent of adolescents experienced physical or emotional violence annually, 21.11 percent of girls suffered intimate partner violence, and 16.55 percent reported lifetime sexual abuse. National suicide rates were highest among 15 to 19-year-olds, at 1.53 per 100,000.

Measurement posed another problem. Of the 42 assessment instruments identified, only four had been cross-culturally adapted and showed reliable psychometric properties: the MINI-KID, GAD-7, PHQ-A and SDQ. Tools that had not been adapted to the local context performed poorly, and the review’s authors conclude that culturally sensitive approaches are warranted to strengthen local research capacity.

On interventions, the evidence was thinner still. Only one randomized clinical trial appeared in the literature, reporting a cost-effective intervention for neurodevelopment among preschoolers living in high-poverty settings. The review’s overall conclusion is that children and adolescents in Mozambique face significant psychosocial adversity, that available evidence suggests a substantial burden of mental disorders according to limited clinical data, and that both validated instruments and intervention research remain scarce.

Subject of Research: Prevalence estimates, assessment instruments and interventions for child and adolescent mental health in Mozambique

Article Title: The science of child and adolescent mental health in Mozambique: A systematic review of prevalence estimates, measurement tools, and interventions

Article References: Daniel, H. M. C., Marchionatti, L. E., Veronesi, J. A., Campello, A. C., Rohde, L. A., Casella, C. B., Raucci, P., Fumo, A. M. T., Mari, J., Salum, G. A., Gouveia, L., & Mneimneh, Z. (2026). The science of child and adolescent mental health in Mozambique: A systematic review of prevalence estimates, measurement tools, and interventions. PLOS Global Public Health, 6(10), e0007513. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0007513

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0007513

Keywords: Mozambique, child and adolescent mental health, systematic review, prevalence estimates, assessment instruments, psychosocial adversity, ADHD, anxiety disorders, cross-cultural validation, randomized controlled trial, suicide rates, global mental health