Background: Mental disorders are becoming a growing public health problemrnworldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. To provide quality mentalrnhealth services, regular and adequate supplies of appropriate, safe and affordablernmedications are required. However, significant percentages of people with severe mentalrndisorders are not getting the treatment. Availability and affordability of psychotropicrnmedicines, amongst others, are the major barriers for many patients in meeting theirrnmedication needs. This study aimed to assess the availability, prices and affordability ofrnessential psychotropic medicines in the private and public health sectors of Addis Ababarncity. rnMethods: A cross-sectional study design was used in 60 retail medicine outlets. Quotarnsampling and purposive sampling was applied to select the retail outlets. Data wasrnentered and analyzed by using the pre-programmed WHO/HAI workbook and SPSSrnversion 25. Outcome measures were described as percentage availability, median pricernand median price ratios, and the number of days' wages needed to purchase medicines byrnthe lowest-paid unskilled government worker. Finally, the results were presented asrnstatements, tables, figures and graphs.rnResults: The mean availability of LPG psychotropic medicines was 24.33% in AddisrnAbaba (28.7% in the public sector and 19.80% in the private sector), and of OBrnmedicines were 2.42 %( 2% in the private and 2.8% in the public sectors). Similarly, thernpublic procurement prices for 16 LPGs ranged from 0.25-4.83 MPRs and the medianrnprocurement price was 0.96 MPR. The patient prices for the LPGs ranged from 0.52-6.43rnMPRs in public and 1.08- 24.28 MPRs in private sectors. The patient prices for OBrnmedicine were 5.21 MPR in public and 11.17 in private sectors. The cost of standardrntreatment varied from 0.1â€“7.8 days' wages in public and 0.8-25 days' in private sectorsrnfor the lowest-paid government worker to purchase a month's supply.rnConclusions: Essential psychotropic medicines were poorly available with high pricesrnand low affordability in Addis Ababa. To ensure access, an efficient supply across allrnlevels of care and financial protection for key medicines should be in place.