© Archyde.com. The logo of the World Health Organization at its headquarters in Geneva – Photo from Archyde.com Archive.
ADEN (Archyde.com) – The World Health Organization said on Sunday it had launched the National Mental Health Strategy for Yemen, in a move aimed at curbing the worsening of mental disorders caused by the eight-year-old war in the impoverished country.
The organization added in a statement that the launch of the strategy, in cooperation with the World Bank and the health authorities of the internationally recognized Yemeni government, aims to reduce the growing burden of mental health disorders in Yemen.
The World Health Organization said in a report in August that more than eight million Yemenis, or one in four people, suffer from mental, psychological and social problems due to armed conflict, forced displacement, unemployment, food shortages and other harsh conditions.
The organization stated that the war that has been going on in Yemen for eight years and the collapsing economy has paralyzed health facilities and exacerbated mental illnesses that affect all groups of society.
The conflict in Yemen has caused most of the state’s psychiatric hospitals to close or stop working.
(Press coverage for the Arabic publication, Riyam Muhammad Mokhshef – Edited by Ahmed Maher)