Conflict-driven internal displacement has an acute impact on the health of those who are forced to flee as internally displaced persons (IDPs). Nowhere is that negative impact more evident than in the prevalence of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems that appear to affect male and female IDPs in different ways. How, then, can health policy and interventions respond to the crisis of mental health in these underserved IDP populations?
The Health and Internal Displacement Network (HIDN), launched in April 2021, promotes research engagement and evidence-driven policy on IDP health. This event the third in our new 2021 HIDN Webinar Series builds on earlier HIDN expert workshops with researchers and policy actors that identified IDPs as often the population most affected by disease and death in conflict contexts.
In this webinar, three presentations by leading HIDN researchers share important findings on IDP mental health that ask us to consider how interventions can best respond to this emergency:
- “Georgian and Ukrainian IDPs and their Mental Health Problems” – Professor Nino Makhashvili, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
- “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its Determinants among Ethiopian IDPs” – Dr Derebe Madoro – Dilla University, Ethiopia
- “Mental Health among Displaced Children in Colombia” – Professor Maria Helena Restrepo Espinosa, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia, and Dr Ilse Flink, VVOB, Rwanda
The webinar is hosted by HIDN member JohnBosco Chika Chukwuorji, University of Nigeria, Nigeria.
Register to join us for this important webinar discussion. Please also feel free to forward the details of this event to your colleagues or networks as appropriate. Participants will be able to ask questions and share comments through online moderation. The event will be held in English and take place online, with the event recording made available afterwards.
For more information, please contact Professor David Cantor at david.cantor@sas.ac.uk