Background: Despite the Abuja declaration by African Union that at least 15% of all member states' total budget be dedicated to health, the Nigerian national health budget for the past five years revolves around 4-6%. Of this paltry sum, only about 3.3% of the allocation goes to mental
health funding for specialist neuropsychiatric facilities. This situation is expected to worsen in the after math of the COVID-19 pandemic due to dwindling economic fortunes.
Methods: In this perspective article, the authors examined the current sources of mental health financing and offer plausible alternatives.
Results: Current mental health financing were mostly from national health budget and out-of-pocket payment.
Conclusion: The authors opine that imposition of special taxes ('sin' tax) on companies with products injurious to health, establishment of robust community-based health insurance, tax waiving and concessions on products used for mental health services and optimizing the use of available fund
are suggested options.
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