Women’s day and public health

Author: Andleeb Haider

Many conferences have been held to improve women’s financial, social and health situation. But not so much is being done for the amelioration of women’s mental health. Women, around the globe, are suffering from severe PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), which develops from frequent abuse at home or in the immediate surroundings.

This can have grave consequences for developing relationships in general and intimate relationships in particular. Psychologists say that healing a child depends on the ability of parents to address their own issues and secondly there is a cliché that before you can be in a healthy love relationship you at first must be in love with yourself. This is a very true cliché. For someone to be loved they have to love themselves. But to love themselves they have to be first truly loved and cherished by their parents. The first form of unseen abuse comes from home and later from the society.

PTSD is very common in women in war-torn areas.

Secondly, due to these circumstances, she is losing father’ sons, brothers, husband, siblings and either she is forced to live in exile or forced to live a destitute life against her will. According to a survey from 1989 since the begin of insurgency in Kashmir by 2015 more 70,000 Kashmiri’s has lost their lives and 8000 are reportedly missing. According to the Institute of mental health and Neurosciences in the valley, the number of suicides from 1980 to 2015 has increased more than 250%. In 2015 a medical survey was done by Medecins Sans Frontieres ( Doctors without borders) and some other international health organizations with 5600 individuals from Kashmir valley and it shows the results of PTSD 40% in women. Due to uncertain raids and insecurity, the lake of sleep and life full of fear is cause PTSD in Kashmir valley.

The numbers of refugees have for sure increased till now By 2007, there were believed to be well over 4 million displaced Iraqis around the world, including some 1.9 million who were still inside Iraq, over 2 million in neighboring Middle Eastern countries, and around 200,000 further afield as due to the ISIL insurgency millions have been displaced from Iraq internally or externally Over 25,000 Iraqi’s were displaced from Mosul were in the outskirt camps.

A survey by France 24 showed that the trauma and fear among these women and kids was horribly rampant. They had seen silted throats of their fathers or siblings, they are unable to sleep with these kids under PTSD are even suffering in hair loss. When we move a bit towards Syria a completely shattered country, we not only the horrific situation within the country but surveys found a high ratio of depression and PTSD largely in Syrian immigrants. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, its cruelty and violence have forced about 4o8 million people to leave their homes. Around 3o6 million people took shelter in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, or other neighbouring countries; more than 1o1 million fled to Europe;1 and still, hundreds of refugees reach the European Union (EU) every day.

These experiences might cause serious mental disorders, especially in children exposed to conflicts and violent events who might have an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress symptoms. According to a social survey from a reception camp Munich, Germany ‘We studied a representative sample of 96 Syrian children around the age 7 to 14 years, 54% kids were suffering from the post-traumatic stress disorder. In Turkish camps, Refugees have had major challenges to meet their health care needs throughout history especially in war zones and natural disaster times.

Sadly, it’s a fact that the budget for health is not sufficient in most developing countries. And when it comes to the budgeting for mental health, it is like a pinch of salt in bag of grain. The graph of calamities in these war-torn, poverty stricken areas shows that one in six people need physical medical help. Furthermore, a quarter need mental health treatment, care and assistance

The healthcare needs of Syrian refugees have been becoming an increasingly important issue. The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder was explored with various socioeconomic variables among Syrian refugees, who sought asylum in Turkey. The percentage of the PTSD in these camps is above than 33.5%. Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and all refugee kids who are sent somehow to save their lives here in Europe or around Europe they are mostly being sexually abused. According to RT television channel, the young refugee boys are being sexually exploited and the ratio of depression and suicide is increasing between them.

Yemen is facing the catastrophic man-made crisis in human history. There are 2,258 deaths have been reported only due to Cholera from April 2017 till 20 Feb 2018

17 million people are insecure 15 % of schools have been destroyed by Saudi led coalition 4.5 million children are out of schools. There is no percentage needed to measure the depression frustration and PTSD of these Yemeni Civilians. We have talked about South Asia and the Middle East and now we have to have a look in Africa. Central African Republic, Burundi, Congo ‘Sudan ‘Somalia all are declared conflicted countries and millions of people are forced to live in Refugee camps. There are few statistics about Congolese refugees at Nakivale camp Uganda; the prevalence of PTSD was 61.7% within men and 58.6% within female gender.

Sadly, it’s a global fact that the budget for health is mostly not sufficient, and is not according to its needs, especially in the third world countries.  And when it comes to the budgeting for mental health, it is like a pinch of salt but the graph of calamities in these war-torn areas show that 1 out 6 needs physical medical help. And 1 out of 4 needs mental health treatment, care and assistance.

The writer is a journalist based in Belgium and is a, writer, teacher, translator, human activist, focusing on human rights, gender equality and peace

Published in Daily Times, March 19th 2018.

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