JanguKamaJangu
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- Feb 7, 2022
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Ripoti ya Shirika la Save the Children imeeleza hayo baada ya kufanya utafiti wa zuio hilo ambalo lilianza Juni 2007.
Watoto 800,000 wa Gaza hawajawahi kujua maisha nje ya zuio hilo yapoje wakiwa wanashuhudia vitisho, vurugu pamoja na maambukizi ya COVID-19
Source: Aljazeera
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80% of Gaza children suffer depression after 15 years of blockade
800,000 children in Gaza have only ever known life under blockade, affecting their mental health, says report.
Four out of five children in the Gaza Strip suffer from depression, sadness and fear caused by fifteen years of the Israeli blockade on the territory, a report published by Save the Children has found.
The report, entitled “Trapped”, interviewed 488 children and 168 parents and caregivers in the Gaza Strip, following up on similar research that was conducted by the organisation in 2018.
The blockade of the Gaza Strip began in June 2007, severely affecting the territory’s economy, and heavily restricting travel. It has particularly affected children, who make up 47 percent of Gaza’s two million people.
About 800,000 Gazan children have never known life without the blockade, and have had to face what the report terms six life-threatening situations – five escalations in violence and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Save the Children’s latest research showed that the mental wellbeing of children, young people and caregivers has dramatically deteriorated since their last report four years ago, with the number of children reporting emotional distress increasing from 55 to 80 percent.
The report showed that there was a significant increase in the number of children who reported feeling fearful (84 percent compared with 50 percent in 2018), nervous (80 percent compared with 55 percent), sadness or depression (77 percent compared with 62 percent), and grief (78 percent compared with 55 percent).
Save the Children also reported that more than half of Gaza’s children thought about suicide, and three out of five self-harm.
Contributing factors to the mental health crisis experienced by children and young people in Gaza were found to be a lack of access to basic services such as health care, and the ongoing blockade.
According to the health caregivers interviewed in the report, 79 percent of Gaza children have suffered from bedwetting during the past few years, and 59 percent of them said that there had been an increase in children experiencing speech, language and communication difficulties, including temporary reactive mutism, which is a symptom of trauma or abuse.
Save the Children warned that the effect of these symptoms on children’s development, learning and social interaction is both immediate and long-term.
