FAMILY COUNSELING...
When it comes to mental health in Yemen, there is no doubt that Dr. Bilqis Muhammad Jubari - the pioneer of mental health in Yemen and the founder and chairwoman of the Family Counseling and Development Foundation - will be at the top of the list of invited participants, as she is the best representative of this field in international forums. At the global conference organized by Cordaid International in the Kingdom of the Netherlands in December 2021. Dr. Bilqis Jubari participated in response to an official invitation as one of the most prominent participants.
The conference was held in the Dutch city of The Hague with the participation of many specialists, researchers and interested persons from all over the world, including Mr. Peter Derek Hof, Ambassador of the Netherlands in Yemen, Dr. Ashraf Badr, Country Director of Marie Stopes Organization in Yemen, Ms. Laila Al-Zwaini, an independent researcher and a former diplomat at the United Nations, and Mrs. Thana Farouk, a Yemeni photographer in the Netherlands. The conference aimed to draw the world's attention to the importance and necessity of advocating mental health needs in Yemen as a result of the conflict that has been going on in it for more than seven years.
At the conference, Dr. Bilqis Jubari gave a speech in which she reviewed, in numbers, the mental health situation in Yemen. She said that Yemen has never witnessed disasters like the one it is witnessing now. Such disasters are accompanied by trauma of war, hunger, poverty, unemployment and disease.
She added that Yemen is a country with a population of more than 30 million, and 24 million of them need at least one form of humanitarian assistance, indicating that 82% of the population is now living below the poverty line. The unemployment rate among young people has reached 65%. In addition, there are 4 million internally displaced persons who are victims of the war, 70% of whom are women, and about 2.5 million children have been deprived of education. She explained that all Yemenis are now going through a difficult time, especially women and children, noting that there is not a single family in Yemen that has not been mourned by war, and at least one family member was either killed, arrested, or died of disease or starvation.
CONFLICT ESCALATES VIOLENCE
Dr. Jubari also briefed on gender-based violence in Yemen, saying that due to cultural boundaries, social norms, legislation and the judicial system, gender-based violence has always been a complex conflict in the Yemeni home. This has furthered this problem since the escalation of the conflict in 2015, and unfortunately it has reached its highest level during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She cited “the women we serve are victims of early or forced marriage, domestic violence, and deprivation of education, work, and inheritance. Most of their suffering comes from a male relative who sometimes suffers from psychological problems himself, or he is unable to get help, or his pride does not allow him to ask for help”.
Dr. Jubari added that in Yemeni culture, no one questions male control, or how it is enforced. Masculine control can take several forms such scolding or beating. Needless to say, when a male suffers from a mental illness that pushes him to extreme acts to control women, it is still considered "normal".
She stressed out that "if you treat a mentally ill father, you also relieve the suffering of his wife and daughters. Therefore, we need to take care of both men and women equally. 35% of the beneficiaries of the foundation are men and this number should be higher".
Dr. Bilqis questioned: “what do we expect? How will all these affect the mental health of people?”
She added, “according to a research conducted by FCDF in 2017, there was one person out of (5) people who is in need for psychological help. Now after (7) years of war and psychological trauma, I leave the calculation to you!”
MENTAL HEALTH IS NOT AMONG DONORS PRIORITIES!
The head of FCDF also indicated in the context of her speech that international donors still focus a lot on humanitarian assistance, such as (food and shelter). She said that despite the importance of this assistance, mental health should be among their focus and priorities as well.
She stressed out that there is a shortage of mental health services in Yemen, as only (5) out of (23) Yemeni governorates have basic mental health services. Moreover, there are only (46) psychiatrists which means that one psychiatrist is for every (600) thousand people in the entire country. This means that psychiatric patients have to travel hundreds of kilometers in order to get treatment.
Dr. Belqis added that Yemen also suffers from a high illiteracy rate, 65%, and it is even higher among women, 77%. Because of these high rates of illiteracy, people who suffer from mental health problems believe that they are haunted by evil spirits, and therefore they turn to mediators for treatment. As a result of this lack of awareness, psychiatric patients still live with their pain for years that may reach (10) years before they seek psychological help, which makes their mental condition ever worse. This calls for work to raise awareness among people of the importance of mental health.
UNREMITTING EFFORTS
Regarding the prominent role that the Family Counseling and Development Foundation plays in providing psychological services in Yemen, Dr. Jubari said that FCDF is the only non-governmental organization that provides comprehensive and integrated mental health services for free in the entire country. She added that with all these difficulties, the Foundation served, in the past six years, more than 246,000 beneficiaries. “Although this number may seem great, it is only less than 4% of the total need”, she said.
OVERCOMING STIGMA
Stigma prevents people from getting psychological help. However, after 11 years of work, I am happy and proud to see the change in people’s mindsets and attitude towards psychotherapy. We have learned that stigma can be overcome by raising awareness and providing quality mental health services that guarantee dignity, privacy and confidentiality. As a result of our efforts, the number of people who come to seek help is doubled. However, it is frustrating when FCDF cannot provide these services to all those who knock on our doors due to lack of funding.
THANKS AND GRATITUDE
At the conclusion of her speech, Dr. Jubari, on behalf of all Yemenis, thanked the Dutch government for its generous and continuous support to Yemen, praising the role played by the Netherlands in alleviating the suffering of Yemenis. She said that the Dutch government has been the first to support mental health in Yemen since 2014, and it was the first country to support FCDF.
She also expressed her gratitude to the United Nations Population Fund and Cordaid organization for their support and response to Yemeni needs, calling on other countries and international organizations to invest in mental health.
She continued, "when you invest in mental health, you protect women from their abusers, and treating one person relieves their suffering and the suffering of those around. They become productive members of society and no longer a burden; responding to mental health needs is a real investment."
She also points out that for peace to be an option for Yemen, the traumatized and scarred Yemeni people must know peace within themselves, but they will never be able to contribute to peace if they cannot find it.
WORKSHOP
As part of the conference, a workshop was held for the conference participants, during which they discussed mental health and psychosocial support for Yemen. During the workshop, Dr. Jubari reviewed visual flashes that tell of the tragic mental health situation in Yemen and the suffering of Yemenis as a result of the conflict.
CONFERENCE RESULTS
At the conclusion of the conference, participants came up with several recommendations and proposals, most notably:
- Integrating mental health services as a priority within the service package and considering it as a life-saving intervention.
- Allocate sufficient resources for capacity building and training of psychiatrists and psychotherapists to bridge the gap.
- Improving access to comprehensive health services, especially for women and children, in all governorates of Yemen, by expanding the scope of services and interventions to empower women.
- Reducing stigma towards people with mental health problems, through community outreach activities on mental health and psychosocial support.
- Looking at mental health and psychosocial support as complementary and intersecting components in all humanitarian and health interventions.
- Not neglecting the psychological needs of men in mental health and psychosocial support programs.
MEETINGS ON THE SIDELINES OF THE CONFERENCE
During her visit to the Kingdom of the Netherlands which lasted for a week, Dr. Jubari held - on the sidelines of the conference - several meetings with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cordaid management to discuss the strategy of providing psychological support in Yemen.
On the sidelines of the conference, a number of different Dutch and international media outlets conducted press interviews with Dr. Jubari, which highlighted many important points about mental health in Yemen.