HIBAPRESS – Rabat
The Minister of Health and Social Protection, Amin Tahraoui, presided over the official launch ceremony of the Mental Health Plan 2030 on Thursday, September 3, 2026, in Rabat. This plan serves as a national reference framework for promoting mental health, preventing mental disorders, improving access to treatments, enhancing the quality of care, and supporting rehabilitation and social reintegration.
The launch of this plan comes amidst significant challenges in the field of mental health, as 6.5 million Moroccans suffer from mental health disorders, including two million children and young people. Of these, 85 percent do not receive the treatments they need.
This plan embodies a new, more comprehensive, and integrated approach to mental health, focusing on enhancing prevention and early detection, alongside continuous treatment and support throughout the care pathway. Special attention is given to children, youth, and vulnerable individuals.
The plan also reinforces a move towards bringing mental health services closer to citizens by strengthening the role of primary healthcare and intermediate structures, improving integration and coordination with hospital institutions and specialized departments, and adopting a territorial organization better suited to the population's needs.
By 2030, the plan aims to significantly enhance the capacity of mental health services. This includes increasing the number of beds from 2,466 to approximately 4,728, psychiatric hospitals from 10 to 17, and intermediate structures from 4 to 24, ensuring the availability of mental health services across all regions of the Kingdom.
The plan also places particular importance on strengthening human resources. This involves increasing the number of psychologists in the public sector from 32 to 786, boosting the training capacity for psychiatrists from 36 to 124 annually, and for mental health nurses from 490 to 750 annually. Additionally, efforts will be made to establish a regulated legal framework for the psychology profession.
The implementation of the Mental Health Plan 2030 will benefit from funding of approximately 4 billion dirhams to support the execution of various measures and actions programmed within the plan.
The Ministry of Health and Social Protection developed the Mental Health Plan 2030 through a participatory approach involving 13 government sectors and various stakeholders, with support from the World Health Organization. The plan is based on three strategic axes and four guiding principles, comprising 86 measures and actions aimed at improving access to mental health services, enhancing the continuity of care, and upgrading the quality of services provided.
On this occasion, the Minister of Health and Social Protection emphasized that the launch of the Mental Health Plan 2030 represents an important milestone in continuing the reform of the national health system, in accordance with the high royal directives of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist him, which prioritize safeguarding dignity, achieving equity, and improving the quality of health services.
Mr. Amin Tahraoui stated: "This plan comes in response to a reality that compels us to strengthen efforts in the field of mental health, as 6.5 million Moroccans suffer from mental health disorders, and the vast majority of them remain outside the scope of treatment. Through this plan, we aim to intervene early, enhance reception capacities and human resources, and improve support for individuals throughout the various stages of care, with the goal of expanding access to mental health services and making them available to everyone by 2030."
Through the Mental Health Plan 2030, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection renews its commitment to strengthening the position of mental health as an essential and integrated part of the national health system, and to developing a response that is closer, more humane, and more responsive to the needs of citizens.
