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Mental health

Mental health

Mental health is a significant medical issue, especially in places where people suffer violence or are living through emergencies and extreme danger. In 1998, MSF formally recognised the need to implement mental health and psychosocial interventions as part of our emergency work. Mental health care is also part of services for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, nutrition, sexual violence and during Ebola outbreaks. Treating severely disturbed people remains a challenge for MSF teams, given the complexity of managing psychiatric drugs and medication. Increasing teams’ capacity to treat these illnesses remains a priority for MSF. Setting up mental health care programmes in emergency situations is not straightforward, especially when...
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Interview with MSF psychologist working in Hebron, OPT

13 April 2012
MSF runs a psycho-medico-social program in Nablus, West Bank.
MSF runs a psycho-medico-social program in Nablus, West Bank.
Manuel Francisco Morantes, a clinical psychologist from Colombia, has been working during the last 9 months in the MSF project in Hebron providing mental health support to Palestinian families affected by the conflict in the region. In this interview he talks about the consequences of violence on the mental health of the people he treats and explains how MSF teams respond to the needs for psychosocial support.      MSF runs a psycho-medico-social program in Nablus, West Bank. Photo: Chris Huby You have been working for MSF in Hebron for more than 9 months now. What are the main problems faced by the people you treat? “People living in the district of Hebron and especially in old...
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Occupied Palestinian Territories – Nablus: “acts of violence are recurrent and increasing”

13 April 2012
West Bank: MSF project coordinator in Nablus, Sarah Château
MSF project coordinator in Nablus, Sarah Château
    MSF project coordinator in Nablus, Sarah Château. Photo: Chris Huby     "My name is Sarah Château. I am 30 years old. I was part of an evaluation mission to Kosovo, spent three years as the coordinator of psycho-social programs in the Philippines and have three years' experience working on migration and development in Morocco. I have been working in the humanitarian aid and development sectors since 2005, when I finished my studies. On my first MSF mission, I served as project coordinator in Nablus, in the West Bank, from July 2011 – January 2012.  I hold that same position today.   MSF has been working in Nablus since 2004...
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Sri Lanka: MSF ends mental health programme in Kilinochchi district

03 April 2012
mental health, Sri Lanka, MSF, trauma
To help address the burden of mental illness and trauma, MSF set up a community-based programme with an emphasis on the psychosocial consequences of violence. Photo: Marco van Hal
MSF’s mental health programme providing counselling to people resettled in Kilinochchi district, in the north of Sri Lanka, ended in April 2012 after 18 months.In that time, 454 people suffering from psychological trauma related to conflict and resettlement received one-to-one counselling. A further 101 people took part in group counselling sessions, and 113 people received advice on handling day-to-day issues. Counselling teams also ran 333 awareness sessions on child abuse, attended by 7,163 school-age children, parents, teachers and community members. IDPs in Sri Lanka often live in transit camps for years. Photo: Marco van Hal MSF staff trained ten psychological support officers and ten field assistants to work in the mental health...
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MSF to expand medical response in western Libya

23 August 2011
Libya. medical supplies
Libya. The MSF pharmacy has provided much-needed medical supplies to Misrata health structures during peak periods of the conflict.
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is preparing to expand its medical response in western Libya to meet urgent humanitarian needs.   The MSF pharmacy has provided much-needed medical supplies to Misrata health structures during peak periods of the conflict.Photo: Eddy McCall / MSF Due to an increase in wounded admissions to the MSF-supported hospital in nearby Yefren, MSF has sent medical teams to assess the frontline area south of Zawiyah. Today, MSF has sent another team inside Zawiyah town to support the general hospital which has also seen an influx of newly wounded and to assess conditions in the town.   ‘Health structures in the area have been...
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Italy: Another tragedy in the Mediterranean for escapees from Libyan war

05 August 2011
Lampedusa island, Italy
Lampedusa island, Italy
On the night of August 4, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and other agencies provided medical assistance to about 360 survivors of a boat that sank near the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa. The authorities estimated that up to a dozen people were also killed when their boat failed to reach land. An MSF staff member leads a mental health counseling session in a detention center on Lampedusa in July. Photo: Mattia Insolera MSF’s medical team immediately set about triaging survivors at the port. More than two dozen men and women needed urgent medical care and were transferred to the island clinic. "Most of patients were dehydrated and hypothermic in...
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Libya: MSF Helps Build Psychological Network In Misrata

13 July 2011
Libya: MSF Helps Build Psychological Network In Misrata
Libya: MSF Helps Build Psychological Network In Misrata
Médecins San Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has helped established a network of 30 local psychologists as part of its medical support projects in the city of Misrata, which has been the scene of fierce fighting for more than four months. MSF staff conducting a training exercise with Libyan psychologists in Misrata. Photo: Eddy McCall/MSF In a country that hadn't experienced war for over four decades, there were few psychiatrists. In general, psychology is an often neglected and undervalued aspect of mental health in Libya. MSF therefore focused its psychological activities on helping to build and support a network of local psychologists with access to both patients...
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MSF Activity Report 2010

20 July 2011
MSF Activity Report 2010
MSF Activity Report 2010
Open publication - Free publishing - More 2010 The International Activity Report 2010 gives details of the worldwide operational activities of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Overall, 27,650 MSF staff members worked on 427 projects in 60 countries, bringing medical assistance to people affected by natural disaster, armed conflict and epidemics. Our teams carried out some 7.3 million outpatient consultations and over 58,000 surgical interventions.  
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Mail & Guardian: From Hell to Limbo

04 July 2011
Libya Tunisia Italy migration war
Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee Libya's violence
Nearly 20 000 people have fled Libya for the safety of the Italian coastline this year. In Mineo, one of the biggest centres for asylum seekers in Italy, refugees share with MSF staff their feelings about Libya and their new living conditions and painfully uncertain future. See and hear the audio soundslide online
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Mental healthcare a core part of MSF's emergency aid

11 October 2010
Mental healthcare a core part of MSF's emergency aid
Mental healthcare a core part of MSF's emergency aid
Médecins Sans Frontières provides emergency medical aid in catastrophes all over the world — armed conflicts, natural disasters, famines and epidemics.  MSF doctors and nurses are often seen treating physical ailments: bandaging the war-wounded, rehydrating a cholera patient, performing an emergency cesarean section. But for more than 20 years, MSF has also been caring for patients’ mental health. A 54-year-old woman from Mungoti camp, one of the two IDP camps on the outskirts of Kitchanga, North Kivu, DRC. For people who have lived through terrible events, the psychological consequences can be severe. Depression and anxiety can immobilize them, at just the time when they need to take action for...
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by Dr. Radut.