The challenge
In 2025, Uganda's National Planning Authority devoted its annual population report to mental health and called it a silent emergency. Facility-reported cases rose 71% in three years, from 494,326 in 2021 to 843,295 in 2024. Roughly one in four adults is affected, and fewer than one in ten people who need care receive it.
The usual explanation is a workforce shortage. Uganda has about 80 psychiatrists, or one for every 600,000 people. That gap is real, but it is only part of the problem.
Uganda also has 344 licensed clinical psychologists, plus a large community of counsellors working in private practice. Only six of those psychologists work in the public health system. The professionals exist. What has been missing is a reliable way for people to reach them.
Humura Therapy set out to close that gap. To do it, the platform had to overcome four barriers:
- Stigma. Being seen walking into a clinic is enough to stop many people from booking a first session.
- Discovery. There has been no trusted place to find a vetted therapist with the right specialty who speaks your language.
- Payment. Card-based booking systems don't fit a market where most people pay by MTN MoMo or Airtel Money.
- Distance and connectivity. Kampala traffic, rural distances, and uneven mobile data all make getting to a session harder.
The approach
NASDAN partnered with Humura Therapy using its five-phase delivery process: discovery with practising therapists, architecture, design, development and testing, then a phased launch. Discovery produced five design principles:
- Anonymity comes first. Many people need to ask a question before they're ready to book a session. The platform has to make that first step safe and require no account.
- Pay the way Uganda pays. Mobile money is built into the core booking flow from the start, not added later.
- Assume weak connections. Video sessions must hold up on inconsistent mobile data. That is normal usage here, not an edge case.
- Match on what matters. Clients choose therapists by specialty, language, availability, and price.
- Serve both sides. Therapists need tools to run a practice, not just a profile listing.
"Uganda didn't need another directory of therapists. It needed a front door people would actually walk through — one that's private, affordable, and works on the phone already in their pocket."
— Daniel Nasasira, NASDAN
The solution
NASDAN designed and built the full platform and continues to host, maintain, and develop it. The platform serves three groups of users.
For clients, a five-step journey:
- 01 · Ask anonymously. Anyone can post a mental health question without creating an account, and a licensed therapist answers within 24 hours.
- 02 · Find a match. Clients browse 60+ verified professionals filtered by specialty, language, availability, and price, with reviews from other clients.
- 03 · Book in about a minute. Clients pick a time slot, choose online or in-person, and pay with MTN MoMo or Airtel Money.
- 04 · Meet securely. Encrypted video sessions are built to tolerate low bandwidth, and in-person sessions are available in Kampala.
- 05 · Keep growing. Mood tracking, assessments and journaling keep progress visible between sessions.
For therapists: a dedicated portal for managing availability, bookings, client continuity and answers to community questions.
For organisations: a Corporate Wellness Program that gives employees confidential access to therapists, group and individual sessions, and anonymous mood and burnout tracking. HR teams see a dashboard of aggregate data only and never see individual records.
Built in from the start: privacy by design, a mobile-first installable web app, and infrastructure that is monitored and maintained continuously.
The results & impact
Humura Therapy is live in Uganda, with online sessions open to clients wherever they are. Today the platform has:
- 10,000+ people supported
- 60+ licensed therapists, counsellors and wellness professionals
- 30+ areas of need covered, from anxiety and grief to addiction, marriage and career stress
- 1,200+ sessions completed in a single month
- 4.9 / 5 average client rating
- 40+ partner organisations on the Corporate Wellness Program
- 24 hours for anonymous questions to receive a licensed answer
"At Humura Therapy, we believe that recovery is not just about overcoming challenges; it is about rediscovering purpose, rebuilding strength, and creating a fulfilling, meaningful life."
— Humura Therapy
Why it matters
- Built for local conditions. Mobile money, low-bandwidth video and multilingual matching are core features, not workarounds.
- Privacy as the foundation. Anonymous questions, confidential sessions and aggregate-only employer reporting were designed in from day one.
- A long-term technology partnership. NASDAN continues to run the infrastructure and develop the roadmap alongside Humura Therapy, rather than handing over code and walking away.
