An Unbearable Reality: The impact of war and displacement on children’s mental health in Iraq (Report )
This report, the first comprehensive study of this size since the conflict escalated in Iraq 2014, details heart-breaking accounts from children who have been displaced by violence and fighting since Mosul fell to ISIS.
The study explores how Iraqi children’s experiences of violence and displacement have impacted on their mental health and psychosocial needs, highlighting how children are experiencing very different mental health issues depending on whether they fled ISIS early on or stayed and endured its control for several years.
Children who have recently fled talked of “monsters”, “dead bodies in the streets” “bloodied faces” and “bombs”. They spoke of their extreme sorrow of losing loved ones – experiences that are being felt by the whole community in a collective trauma.
Of those who have spent years displaced, the family unit has provided a protective shield for children, although concerningly, experts believe that the findings show a normalization of violence and insecurity and parents are overwhelmingly worried about their children’s mental health.
Despite varied responses to horrible events, in the face of significant shortages, all of these children face dim futures if immediate, targeted and long-term assistance is not given to provide the mental health and psychosocial support that they need.
LEARN MORE: Save The Children Report on Children’s Mental Health in Iraq
USAID in Iraq
USAID, alongside other U.S. government agencies, works closely with Iraqi national, provincial, and local governments, international institutions, and a network of local partners.
USAID has implemented activities designed to strengthen infrastructure, stabilize communities, foster economic and agricultural growth, and help the various levels of government better represent and respond to the needs of the Iraqi people.
USAID remains committed to the mutual goals of the partnership between the US and Iraq: a secure and stable Iraq with more inclusive, capable and accountable governance, manifested by more effective provision of public services to all citizens, support to conflict-affected communities, and implementation of targeted economic reforms.
LEARN MORE: USAID Responds to the Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Mission Contact
Brooke Isham, Mission Director
USAID
Unit 6060, Box 0047
DPO AE 09870-9998
Iraq
Postal Code – M
09879-0047
Phone: +1 202-216-6276
USAID Contact
Mohit Dayal, Iraq Desk
U.S. Agency for International Development
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20523
Phone: (202) 712-0043
Email: mdayal@usaid.gov
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