THE RUSSIAN UKARINANIAN INVASION AND MENTAL HEALTH

On the 24th of February 2022, the world woke up to the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military. There was a massive attack on Ukraine with bombs and missiles. At the time the article was penned, there were no official report of casualties but many have since fled the country over the uncertainty which could prompt a humanitarian crisis. This begs the question; what is the state of the mental of the Ukrainians in view of this imminent crisis? Our discussion will focus on the mental health issues related to these kind of disasters and humanitarian crises.

There are two types of disasters being natural and those that are synthetic. Natural disasters include cyclones, earth quakes, tsunamis and tropical cyclones. Synthetic disasters on the other hand include military conflicts in the context of the current Ukraine situation, terrorism, political unrest and industrial incidents.

The significance of the armed situation in Ukraine is that it can potentiate or exacerbate the risk of mental health problems. Indeed poor mental health is an undeniable consequence of disasters. There is ample evidence linking disasters to mental health. A team of researchers led by Jordan found that 14.2 % of the sample of people who had exposure to the September 2001 World Trade Centre terrorist attack. Furthermore, 15.3 % reported being diagnosed with depression. According to WHO, those affected by such kind of emergencies in psychological distress. One in 5 of the victims have been documented to have a likelihood for Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and substance use.

The downside of this also is the fact that those diagnosed with mental disorders can get into a relapse. This clearly give credence to the fact that the experience of such disasters result in adverse mental health effects.

In the past few days fast few days following the invasion, there has been an influx of refugees into neighbouring countries like Poland. I welcome efforts done as far as assisting the refugees with food, shelter and clothing but efforts need be made in order to offer mental health and psychosocial support. As posited by the International Medical Corps, “mental health is critical to recovering from disasters and the ability to rebuild.”

I implore all to assist in Ukraine within the confines of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL). IHL was set up in Geneva conventions of 1949, 1977 and 2005 and has fundamental principles used mostly in armed conflict.