Yemenis suffering under three years of conflict and instability face severe mental health issues that if left untreated can have long-lasting negative repercussions on all aspects of society, according to American and Yemeni researchers raising awareness for the issue.
Mental health treatment in the Middle Eastern country is a forgotten and stigmatized issue, researchers from the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies and Columbia University’s Law School Human Rights Clinic and Mailman School of Public Health argue in their new paper, “The Impact of War on mental Health in Yemen: A Neglected Crisis,” which was published Tuesday.
“Despite the likely massive immediate and long-term mental health implications of the current conflict in Yemen, the issue has largely been neglected by both domestic authorities and the international community,” Director of the Human Rights Clinics Sarah Knuckey said in a statement.
The joint venture outlines treatment options the international community and local nongovernmental organizations can put in practice to address the issue.
“This new project seeks to advance the right to mental health in Yemen through interdisciplinary research and human rights advocacy,” Ms. Knuckey continued.
“During the past three years of armed conflict, Yemenis have been continuously exposed to serious harm and trauma, including air strikes, threats and attacks from armed groups, forced disappearances, torture, a cholera epidemic, and food and job insecurity,” Farea Al-Muslimi, chairman of the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, said in the statement. “The impact of the war and humanitarian crisis on the mental health and well-being of Yemenis must no longer be ignored.”
Beginning in 2015, civil war broke out between Iranian-backed Houthi rebel groups and the recognized government of President Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi and supported by Saudi Arabia. The country was soon divided between the Houthi north, with control of the capital Sanaa and the south, with the port city of Aden controlled by forces loyal to Mr. Hadi.
Already the Middle East’s poorest country, Yemen’s outbreak of war further plunged the population into devastation. Almost the entire population there, 20 million people, are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the World Health Organization.
Some 17 million people don’t know where their next meal is coming from and a partial Saudi-blockade on the north of the country has severely limited the transfer of food and medical supplies. The WHO estimates that 150,000 malnourished children could die within the coming months without humanitarian assistance.
At least 14.8 million people are without basic health care; a cholera outbreak has infected 900,000 people; and the WHO is now addressing an outbreak of diphtheria, a bacterial infection of the nose and throat that killed thousands of children before a vaccine was developed in the 1920s.
In the published paper, the researchers highlight that an overwhelming stigma in society influences its lack of psychological health services, acknowledgment of mental illness or reliable data of those affected.
By bringing together policy experts in a range of civil society and international affairs and humanitarian law, the researchers seek to make “evidence-based policy recommendations” to advance recognition and treatment of mental health issues in Yemen.
“The goal is to improve conditions for those psychologically affected by the conflict, and to help strengthen the norm on the right to mental health domestically, regionally, and internationally,” Daron Tan, a student in the Human Rights Clinic, said in the statement. “By bringing together local and international experts across a range of fields, we can better understand the mental health challenges and respond more effectively.”
• Laura Kelly can be reached at lkelly@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.