The effects of war on the mental wellbeing of people is given much less attention than the physical harms of conflict.

We have been researching and working on the mental health challenges faced by different sub-populations. In a recent opinion piece in The Lancet our group applied some of our earlier findings to the situation in Ethiopia.

The country is the second most populous in Africa. It has a total population of approximately 115 million and 12 administrative regions. Conflict broke out in late 2020 between the central government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The war has been ongoing ever since, with battles spreading out to the regions of Afar and Amhara.

Mental health problems are major indirect consequences of armed conflicts. They can have short-term and long-term effects on the wellbeing of individuals living in war-affected areas.

In a new report the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates a high burden of mental health problems in conflict settings. This includes depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

There has been limited data on the potential mental health consequences of the war in Ethiopia. To try and bridge the gap we applied the WHO’s estimates to the populations in the war-affected regions of Afar and Amhara in the country.

What we found suggests that a minimum of 28, 560 individuals are facing severe forms of mental health disorders that require immediate intervention. Of these 12, 566 are children and 14, 565 are women.

Treatment of these people has been impossible. The war led to the damage and looting of more than 40 hospitals, 453 health centres, 1,850 health posts in Amhara and one hospital, 17 health centres and 42 health posts in the Afar region.

We argue that the burden of mental disorders and their short-term and long-term consequences in communities in the war-affected regions of Amhara and Afar should be a priority in the post-war period.

Read full story at The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/war-in-ethiopia-addressing-mental-health-needs-to-be-made-a-priority-177471

Image courtesy: Ethiopian refugees fleeing the Tigray region. Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images