Warfare Exposes Children to Mental Disorder

Armed conflicts are cruel. Besides causing massive casualties and destruction, they often leave lasting scars in people’s hearts.

It has been over a year since conflict erupted in Ukraine in late February 2022. In the midst of this catastrophe, World Vision has not only been actively providing immediate and continued assistance for displaced children and families, but also assessed the psychosocial well-being of some of them during the early stages of the conflict. The No Peace of Mind report, which was then published based on previous data, issued a few heart-breaking warnings.

1. In conflict-affected areas, one in every five people is estimated to develop mental disorder such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, etc. In the context of Ukraine, that would mean more than 4,500,000 people, including over 1,500,000 children.


2. One in 11 people will experience moderate to severe mental disorder.

It is worrying to note that, according to World Vision’s Ukraine crisis response one-year-on report released in February this year, the number of people in need of psychosocial support has already exceeded 15 million.

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Timely Treatment is Crucial

From our experience in places like Syria and South Sudan, we know that it is extremely important that children affected by conflict receive psychosocial support as soon as possible to overcome the impact of such distressing experiences. On the contrary, if left unattended, there could be severe consequences that last for years.

In 2021, 10 years after the start of the war in Syria, a humanitarian organisation published a study upon interviewing several hundred displaced persons and refugees across North West Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. The study found that a shocking 88% of the people interviewed had experienced at least one symptom of PTSD and one life-threatening event, yet many of them were either unaware of the support available to them, or were reluctant to seek help. As Ukraine is a country with a similar level of development to pre-war Syria and has experienced similar examples of brutal urban warfare, now is the moment to provide timely and continued assistance for Ukrainian children and families to heal the scars in their hearts.

Continued Efforts Produce Better Results

Since the beginning of the response, apart from providing emergency relief for refugees, World Vision has also been offering different forms of mental health and psychosocial support. These include Child Friendly Spaces run by psychologists to help children temporarily forget the agony of war and allow parents to have some respite. Educational centres have also been set up to provide education opportunities for child refugees, helping them settle into their new life with less stress and sense of loneliness.

While mental health support may vary from art therapy and handicrafts to youth clubs, a lot of World Vision staff and partners implementing such interventions across the region do agree that as long as children are able to participate on a continued and stable basis, their mental well-being will significantly improve.

We are providing child protection, mental well-being and psychosocial support for refugees and families affected by conflict in Ukraine and other parts of the world, so as to meet their psychosocial needs and help them recover from their traumatic experiences. Through Childhood Rescue, you can make a difference to help them survive, recover and build a future.

You may support Childhood Rescue now. Through a monthly donation of $150 or more, you will support World Vision in providing various forms of assistance, enabling those who suffer to survive, recover and build a future.

To ensure our work is carried out efficiently in an ever-changing world, World Vision will support different regions and allocate funds to particular projects according to the most current needs.