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Taiz (Yemen) (AFP) – In Yemen, which is mired in a brutal war, the phenomenon of mental disorders is exacerbating, while the health sector is witnessing a collapse due to the eight-year fighting that has plunged Yemenis into depression and pushed others to commit suicide.
Doctors and psychiatrists tell AFP that Yemen, with a population of 30 million, is currently experiencing a mental health “crisis” due to the absence of psychiatrists and medicines, as well as the fear of social stigma associated with resorting to psychotherapy.
According to the Ministry of Health, the number of psychiatrists in 2020 reached 59, which means that there is one psychiatrist for every half a million people. As for the average number of health workers specializing in mental health (doctors, nurses and therapists), it is estimated at regarding 300, or at a rate of one specialist for every 100,000 people.
The number of beds designated for mental health in Yemen does not exceed 990, while the Ministry of Health estimates the number of public and private mental health hospitals at seven, ie an average of one hospital for every 4.25 million Yemenis.
According to the Yemeni Family Development and Counseling Foundation, which specializes in psychological counseling, regarding 19.5 percent of the Yemeni population were suffering from psychological disorders in 2017, according to a study published in that year.
But the United Nations warned in reports published this year that “this number may be higher now due to the epidemic (Covid-19) and the continuing conflict.” There are no recent studies on the number of patients with mental disorders.
Not enough family
The conflict in Yemen has been raging since 2014 between the Iranian-backed Houthis and government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.
The war caused the death of more than 377,000 people directly or indirectly, according to a United Nations report at the end of last year, meaning that they died either in bombing and fighting, or as a result of indirect consequences such as starvation, disease and lack of drinking water.
The country is now at risk of escalating violence following the collapse of a half-year truce this month.
According to the Development and Extension Foundation, the causes of unrest in the population are mainly the result of “food insecurity, unemployment, cholera, arbitrary detention, torture, indiscriminate attacks, air strikes, or poor basic public services.”
In Taiz (southwest), one of the cities most affected by the war, mental health patients are crowded into a hospital that can no longer receive more due to its inability to provide medicines, food and treatment to all patients.
The director of the Psychiatric Hospital in Taiz, Dr. Adel Mulhi, explains that “the number of psychiatric patients is increasing as a result of the conditions in the country and the tragedies caused by the war and the current political situation.”
“We try to provide treatment, but we cannot provide it to all of them. We receive large numbers. (…) We are hardly able to provide the service because of what we have.”
With a capacity of 200 patients, the hospital does not have enough beds for everyone who knocks on its doors. The hospital receives government funding that covers 25 percent of its needs and receives some donations, according to its director.
Grief is a common factor.
In addition to the killing and destruction, Yemen is suffering from the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations, as regarding 80 percent of the population of the neighboring country of some of the world’s richest countries depends on humanitarian aid to survive.
In Hajjah, northwest of Sana’a, Doctors Without Borders runs a psychiatric clinic dealing with residents suffering from the trauma of the war.
Ora Ramirez Barrios, director of mental health at the organization, told AFP that 70 to 80 percent of patients in this clinic suffer from “psychosis, depression, bipolar disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder”.
“We have many people who have lost family members and homes and are experiencing displacement. Because of all these losses, grief is a common factor,” she said.
But even with the clinic offering its services free of charge, some residents have difficulty getting to the center or accepting the idea of psychiatric treatment.
Ramirez Barrios explains that “the families of (patients) were ashamed to come earlier,” especially women, because they “need permission from their families or husbands and are afraid of not being committed to confidentiality” following talking regarding their situation.
She notes that many people come too late “when patients attempt suicide or develop symptoms such as severe hallucinations or delirium.”
Yemeni media reports that a person commits suicide every two days, a number that cannot be confirmed by other parties.
Despite the difficulties, the official says, “This is not a hopeless place. People believe in us even when they suffer from chronic diseases and think this is a safe place.”
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© 2022 AFP
