Abstract
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Abstract; Background: Empirical evidence shows Mental, Neurological, and Substance abuse (MNS) disorders disproportionately affect the poor and undermine efforts to achieve sustainable development goals. The Ministry of health has recognized that surveillance of MNS disorders is invaluable for adequate and appropriate service delivery. We determined prevalence and trends of common neuro-psychiatric disorders in Uganda, 2012-2016, using national health surveillance data.Methods: We conducted secondary data analysis on common mental and neurological disorders (CMNDs) from the national health surveillance database between 2012 and 2016. Disorders assessed included anxiety disorders, bipolar, childhood disorders, epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia, HIV psychosis, dementia, and other mental disorders. We performed and present descriptive statistics using prevalence of CMNDs by sex, region, age, and case type. Using population data obtained from the 2014 census, we calculated the prevalence of CMNDs by dividing the number of cases by the total population of the different sub-population groups. We analyzed trends of CMNDs from 2012 to 2016.Results: Prevalence of all CMNDs in 2016 was 160/10,000 persons. Prevalence of all CMNDs was similar between males (150/10,000) and females (160/10,000). People aged 5-59 years were the most affected (860/10,000). Epilepsy was the commonest disorder (76/10,000), followed by bipolar affective disorder (24/10,000). Northern Uganda accounted for the largest prevalence of epilepsy (100/10,000) while central Uganda had the highest prevalence of bipolar (62/10,000), schizophrenia (26/10,000), depression (18/10,000), and HIV-related psychosis (11/10,000). On average, CMNDs increased by 9% annually from 2012-2016.Conclusion: CMNDs are prevalent. Epilepsy accounts for the largest burden with northern Uganda being most affected region. CMNDs increased over the period evaluated. We recommend increased awareness on burden of epilepsy and mental health control measures that target epilepsy nationwide.