QRCS personnel in northern Syria.
Doha: The representation office of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) in Gaziantep, Turkiye, is working on a project to operate three mobile mental health clinics.
With funding from the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health rapid response personnel are deployed to help those affected by COVID-19 in northwestern Syria.
The purpose of the project is to help reduce mental morbidity and improve the psychological conditions of the pandemic-affected population by improving coverage of appropriate mental health and psychosocial support services. It also aims to enhance the integration of mental health and psychosocial support services provided by the targeted primary health care centres and mobile clinics; including capacity-building and knowledge transfer for local staff and community health workers (CHWs) in accordance with the applicable international standards, guidelines, and protocols (WHO, UNICEF, and UNFPA). It will also look to provide the equipment, medications, and facilities needed for the proper operation of such services.
Lasting until mid-October, the six-month project benefits a total of 9,600 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the host communities in several parts of northwestern Syria, such as Al Bab, Salqin, and Darkush, including 480 persons with special needs.
According to WHO, it is estimated that one in 11 people (9%) living in a setting that has been exposed to conflict in the previous 10 years will have a moderate or severe mental disorder.
Among people who have experienced war or other conflict, one in five people (22%) will have depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s (IASC) COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) recommends six interventions in the context of mental health and psychosocial support response during the pandemic. It stresses special attention to older persons, children, and patients with noncommunicable diseases; eradication of social stigma; and social messages to raise awareness about mental health issues during the COVID-19 response.
The project provides integrated, high-quality, and culturally appropriate mental health and psychosocial support services, through three stationed and mobile mental health clinics targeting the local population, whether IDPs or the host communities, where access to mental health services is very low.
