Newsletters
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that an estimated 67 million people living in conditions of conflict, disaster, or displacement are struggling with mental health disorders, calling on the global community to treat mental health care as a life-saving component of humanitarian aid.
WHO’s technical officer for mental health, Fahmy Hanna, said during a U.N. press briefing in Geneva that one in every five people in humanitarian crises lives with a mental health condition. However, he noted that psychological support is still treated “in too many responses, as optional,” despite its critical importance in recovery and survival.
Hanna underlined that although some progress has been made in recent years—coordination mechanisms are now active in about 71% of emergency settings compared with less than half in 2019—the overall quality and reach of mental health services still “fall short.”
The WHO official warned that requests from countries for psychotropic medicines, which are used to treat disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, fell by 94% in early 2025 due to funding shortages. This decline, he said, has left millions of vulnerable people without the support they urgently need.
“When humanitarian funding disappears, the impact is immediate and immense,” Hanna said, urging governments, donors, and international responders to make mental health care a standard and sustained part of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery plans.
2 min read
