Leading pan-African banking group, the Ecobank Group is celebrating its ninth Ecobank Day, which is the Group’s flagship annual corporate and social responsibility event that ‘gives back’ to the local communities across its pan-African footprint.

This year Ecobank Day will be held on Friday with the theme ‘Mental Health – Time to Talk and Act!’.

It marks the final stage of Ecobank’s three-year campaign to raise awareness and help prevent Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

The highlight of this year’s campaign will be a pan-African webinar on Friday 22 October. An English session will be held from 10 am GMT, while a French session will be held from 3 pm GMT.

The webinar will showcase various experts on mental health, to discuss mental health challenges.

There will also be a range of activities across each of the Ecobank affiliates with various local public and private partners, aimed at raising awareness of mental health across all 33 countries where Ecobank operates on the continent.

Ade Ayeyemi, Ecobank Group Chief Executive Officer, said, "Mental health disorders are one of the most common Non-Communicable Diseases.

They have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with quite a number of people suffering anxiety from social distancing and self-isolation, in addition to financial and health worries.

"Mental health issues can happen to anyone and it’s important we start talking and acting on it. We should have a society where people feel comfortable to talk about their emotions, without stigma, discrimination or abuse. Anyone suffering or experiencing mental health issues should be aware that they can get help. It’stime to talk and act on mental health.’

Ecobank Day is an annual event that was first held in 2013, focusing each year on a specific theme.

These have been Education for young people in Africa (2013); Malaria prevention and control (2014); Every African child deserves a better future (2015); ICT education in schools and improving maternal health (2016); Safe water management (2017); Orphanages (2018); Cancer (2019); and Diabetes (2020).