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Word (AFP) – Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis: Yemen’s seven years of brutal civil war have created an explosion of mental illness that has deprived basic health care services.
“We try to provide treatment, but we can’t treat everyone,” said Adel Malihi, director of a psychiatric hospital in the rebel-held city of Taez, one of the hardest-hit areas of the conflict.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels Since 2015, fighting against Saudi-led pro-government forces has killed hundreds of thousands and pushed the impoverished population to the brink of starvation.
Aid groups have warned that more than 23 million people — more than two-thirds of Yemen’s population — are dependent on aid.
While the state-run Tez psychiatric hospital has room for 200 patients, Meli said the number needing care has risen dramatically because of the “tragedies caused by the war.”
The hospital does not have the necessary staff and medicines to cope. As government funds cover only a quarter of the budget, the rest is dependent on grants.
“Number of Collisions”
Yemen, a country of about 30 million people, had only 59 psychiatrists in 2020 — or one for every half a million people — according to health ministry statistics.
Add in therapists, caregivers and nurses, and the number of professionals dedicated to mental health rises to 300, spread across seven hospitals.
Officials have not released any recent data on mental illness in Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
The Yemen Family Development and Guidance Foundation in Sana’a, the capital of the rebels, conducted an In 2017, it estimated that nearly one-fifth of residents had a mental health problem.
The report said the population “faces constant pressure, loss and severe shocks due to lack of food, unemployment, cholera, arbitrary arrests, torture, indiscriminate attacks, airstrikes or lack of basic public services”.
In a UN report released this year, the number could be higher due to the added pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic and the “continuing scale of the conflict”.
The UN-brokered ceasefire since April has led to a significant reduction in civil conflict and facilitated measures to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation, aid organizations said.
But that truce expired on Oct. 2, and failed attempts to extend it have sparked fears of renewed conflict.
‘Heartbreaking’
In Hajja, northwest of Sana’a, the aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) operates a specialized mental health clinic.
“We mostly help people who have been involved in violence in the context of war,” said Ora RamÃrez Barrios, who directs the clinic’s operations.
“We have a lot of people who have lost family members, their homes and suffered displacement.”
Three-quarters of the patients have “severe mental health disorders,” including “psychosis, depression, bipolar disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder,” she added.
Barrios said she sees the clinic as a place of hope, adding that Yemenis feel safe “after all the violence they’ve been through and suffering.”
One challenge is that many Yemenis seek medical advice only after attempting suicide or, for example, experiencing nightmares, when their symptoms are “intractable”.
She explained that one of them is the stigma of mental illness in Yemen.
Coming to the clinic is especially difficult for women: they have to ask permission from their families or husbands.
“It’s sad because when you hear their story, you know they needed help a long time ago,” Barrios said.
“Women suffer from many losses, traumatic events and attacks – and what was the sadness, with the years, becomes depression.”
© 2022 AFP
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