Every year, millions of people are affected by emergencies such as armed conflicts and natural disasters. These crises disrupt families, livelihoods and essential services, and significantly impact mental health. Nearly all those affected experience psychological distress. A minority go on to develop mental health conditions such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Emergencies can worsen mental health conditions and social issues such as poverty and discrimination. They can also contribute to new problems, such as family separation and harmful substance use.
International guidelines recommend various activities for providing mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) during emergencies, ranging from community self-help and communications to psychological first aid and clinical mental health care. Preparedness and integration with disaster risk reduction are essential to mitigate impacts. Countries can also use emergencies as opportunities to invest in mental health, leveraging the increased aid and attention they receive to develop better care systems for the long term.
Problems obtaining mental health services
Most people affected by emergencies experience feelings of anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, sleep issues, fatigue, irritability, anger or aches. This psychological distress usually improves over time, but some people go on to develop a mental health condition. An estimated 22% may have depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia (1) .
An estimated 13% of conflict-affected populations have mild forms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, while moderate or severe mental disorders affect 9%.
In conflict-affected settings, depression increases with age and is more common in women. People with severe conditions are especially vulnerable during and after emergencies and need access to basic needs and clinical care.
International guidelines on MHPSS recommend several actions to effectively prepare and respond to emergencies (2) .
Mental health is crucial to the social and economic recovery of individuals, communities and countries after emergencies. And despite the adversity they create, emergencies also offer opportunities to build better mental health systems – by leveraging the surge of aid and focused attention for long-term service development. Many countries have done just this , even in challenging circumstances.
WHO works globally to ensure that mental health emergency preparedness and response is both coordinated and effective, and that after emergencies, all efforts are made to strengthen mental health services for the long term.
WHO leads in providing technical advice on mental health in emergencies, operating in a range of countries and territories such as Afghanistan, Chad, the occupied Palestinian territory and Yemen. In 2024, WHO and partners supported the Ukrainian MHPSS operational roadmap , coordinating more than 250 actors and national authorities to significantly scale up mental health services.
In 2024, the World Health Assembly approved a resolution to strengthen MHPSS in all stages of emergencies and provide integrated, quality mental health services which are accessible to all. It urges Member States to implement the WHO Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030 , and make long-term investments in community-based services and cross-sectoral coordination.
WHO co-chairs the IASC MHPSS Reference Group , supporting organizations and technical working groups in more than 55 countries. Through this group, WHO also collaborates with the Standby Partners Network to rapidly deploy technical experts during significant and complex emergencies.
WHO works with diverse partners to develop tools and resources, including the MHPSS Minimum Services Package , which are widely used to improve the scale and quality of emergency mental health responses. WHO also builds capacities for MHPSS preparedness and disaster risk management, including by hosting global workshops that include first of their kind, full-scale multisectoral field-based simulation exercises.
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