After one hundred days of the war in Ukraine, MSF teams have seen that many people are presenting with mental health issues across our projects in Ukraine, from Kyiv to Kharikiv, Kropyvnytskvy, Hostomel, Berehove, Dnipro and beyond. Between mid-April and mid-May, our mental health teams provided over 1,000 mental health consultations, both individual and group, across the country, including 363 children who participated in group mental health sessions. Our psychologists have observed people, including children, suffering from a spectrum of problems including anxiety, depression, sleeping problems, loss of appetite and more.

We are increasingly worried about rising mental health needs across the country, for both people who have stayed in regions affected by direct fighting and those who have fled and found themselves internally displaced in the country.

We have continued to provide training for mental health teams in medical facilities and to first responders in shelters for internally displaced people across the country, however, there remains a gap between the mental health or psychological needs and the services available.

We are therefore calling for sufficient and considerate mobilisation of resources to ensure increased availability of and access to effective mental healthcare for conflict-affected people. This includes increased availability and accessibility of mental health services, even for people in rural and/or hard-to-reach areas.