Greetings to everyone on the InformationWar platform.
Are aware that every conflict has implications on both the present and future generations. This could be economic and social implications.
From the economic palance, there's usually hardships and suffering all over the conflicts region, while socially, it affects the mental and social lives of people who live within that area.
Research has it that children are the most vulnerable amongst all categories of human. This is because, they tend to have an abnormal childhood and upbringing. Most children in war prone areas, don't enjoy the freedom, leisures as well as childhood experiences that children from other climes do have.
This post will focus on the mental health of children living in the Gaza Strip and how the conflict and blockcade in Gaza Strip have affected the general livelihood of the children. This post will be in conjunction with a research published by Save the Children.
It should be noted that Gaza Strip has been under blockcade since 2007, and this year marks 15th anniversary. Children that are giving birth to from this period of blockcade and beyond haven't experienced normal life, which in turn has several implications on their mental health.
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.Source
This year, the Save the Children conducted a set of research to ascertain the mental health of children and caregivers and the following are the results from the said research:
- about 800,000 children in Gaza Strip haven't known life outside blockcade. This is because there's a huge restrictions on travels for Gazan. This also affects those coming into the region and it's economic activities. Traveling they said is part of education, restricting children from traveling will amount to an infringement of their fundamental human rights as enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights.
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.Source
The increase in percentage is very alarming, which shows that most children are mentally and emotionally distressed. This isn't good for any society, because for a society to grow effectively, they need a sound mental health to do that.
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).Source
From the above statistics, many Gazan children have suicidal thoughts and this could lead to reduction in the numbers of adults in the next few years to come. This could be traced to lack of access to good health facilities as well as the blockcade.
“The physical evidence of their distress – bedwetting, loss of ability to speak or to complete basic tasks – is shocking and should serve as a wakeup call to the international community,” Jason Lee, Country Director for Save the Children in the occupied Palestinian territories, said.Source
I'll conclude by saying that, war isn't good at all and it's implications are usually enormous including mental stability and wellbeing. End the war in Gaza Strip as well as the one in Ukraine.