From Crisis to Care: WHO’s Ongoing Efforts to Provide Mental Health and Psychosocial Support to Armenian Refugees

The World Health Organization (WHO) is dedicated to providing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services to Armenian refugees and host populations, as it has been identified as a critical need by refugees. To address this need, WHO has established a mobile team that travels weekly to affected communities to provide immediate MHPSS support. Over the past 6 months, over 973 individuals have received MHPSS consultations, with 16% being children and 35% being older people.

In addition to the mobile team, WHO is working on building the capacity of the MHPSS hotline, where operators are available to provide support, referrals, and assistance to callers experiencing anxiety, depression, or suicidal thoughts. Over the past 6 months, 10 operators have received specialized training and have responded to a total of 4546 calls.

Vahan Simonyan, a psychiatrist on the mobile team, emphasizes the ongoing acute mental health needs in the population. He notes that after six months of providing support, they are diagnosing more long-term and chronic conditions like depression among refugees with existing mental health histories who are showing severe signs of distress. The provision of MHPSS for burn patients and their families has also been a significant focus of WHO’s response. Over 1262 individual sessions have been provided to 149 individuals including 96 burn patients, 32 family members and 21 medical staff.

WHO has also conducted trainings and capacity-building sessions on basic psychosocial skills for over 360 nurses. As of March 2024, six months after the influx of refugees from Karabakh region demand for psychological support continues to grow necessitating additional funding