“My Hero is You” mental health campaign enhances resilience among parents and children in Syria
8 July 2021, Damascus – One in 10 people in Syria live with a mild to moderate mental health condition. Prolonged exposure to conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic have continued to strain the mental well-being of families. In response, WHO Syria and local nongovernmental organizations in Rural Damascus recently launched the “My Hero Is You” campaign, which aims to reduce anxiety and fear associated with COVID-19 among children, and enhance the ability of parents to effectively talk to children about their well-being.
The pilot campaign reached 5000 children and included messages about how to cope with stress delivered through a colouring book. The book was adapted to the Syria context and is based on a children’s story, entitled “My Hero is You”, developed by WHO and other members of an United Nations inter-agency committee on mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings. The campaign also included the provision of psychosocial support sessions and focus group discussions, attended by 2000 parents, caregivers and health educators who discussed their concerns, coping mechanisms and support strategies for children experiencing stress in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In recent years, there has been increasing acknowledgement of the role of mental health in people’s overall well-being and, especially, children’s development. In Syria, the conflict was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse economic impact, so the need to address mental health has become even more acute. Thus, our increased focus on mental health aims at listening to communities – to their fears, concerns and experiences of coping with COVID-19 - and empowering them with tools and skills to stay mentally resilient and adapt to a new normal,” said Dr Akjemal Magtymova, WHO Representative in Syria.
The campaign, funded by the WHO Regional Solidarity Initiative, was made possible thanks to partnerships with Al-Tal and Al-Qutayfah nongovernmental organizations, members of which received training by WHO prior to the campaign launch. The training was based on the WHO global package and adapted to the Syrian context to tailor it to the current needs of community workers who provide basic psychosocial support services to parents and children.
“I am proud to be part of the initiative through which I could teach parents and children how to overcome anxieties and stay positive despite the circumstances surrounding them. It was a joy to observe children reading and colouring the story and imagining themselves travelling around Syria with characters, like Ario, to share with other children what they have learned from the book and what to do to prevent transmission of COVID-19,” said Ahmed Sousan, 30, a volunteer from Rural Damacus who received WHO training.
“Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and work life balance were among the recommendations I received during the psychosocial support sessions, in addition to tips on how to talk to children about COVID-19 related fears. It was important for me to share how the pandemic affected the mental well-being of my family. I felt others shared the same concerns and together we can overcome the challenges of the current times,” said one of the parents at the Al-Tal centre.
Following the success of the pilot programme in Rural Damascus, WHO plans to replicate the initiative in Homs, Aleppo and other governorates this year to reach thousands of parents and children in need of mental health support; and in collaboration with the Regional Office for Eastern Mediterranean will also share the initiative’s best practices for other countries in the Region to replicate.
Media contact
Gulalek Soltanova
External Relations/Communications Officer
WHO Syria Office
Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic
+963 953 888 477
World Health Day event, 13 April 2021
On Tuesday 13 April 2021, WHO in the occupied Palestinian territory held an online event with the Palestinian Ministry of Health and civil society partners to mark the launch of a year-long campaign towards Building a Fairer, Healthier World. The campaign focuses on addressing the preventable, systematic differences in health outcomes that result from the political, economic, and social conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work and age.
The Minister of Health, Dr Mai Al-Kaila, opened the event outlining how the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and highlighted substantial challenges for the Palestinian health system. She emphasized that violations of the human rights of Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip hinder access to and provision of health care and disproportionately affect certain communities – such as those in Area C of the West Bank and those living close to the separation barrier. Dr Al-Kaila highlighted how unequal access to vaccines for COVID-19 underscores the need for global justice and solidarity, and she welcomed the support provided by WHO and the international community, including through the COVAX initiative. She also thanked civil society health and human rights organizations for their efforts and support in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event was split into three sessions. The first outlined barriers to health due to policies and practices in Area C of the West Bank, with presentations provided by Medicins Du Monde, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, and Action Against Hunger. Speakers detailed the impact on mental health of precarity and home demolitions; the challenges to mobile clinic access and the substantial health needs of communities in this area; and the barriers to establishment of infrastructure for water and sanitation, essential for livelihoods and for the protection and realization of good health. The second session of the online briefing addressed the impact of severe movement restrictions in the Gaza Strip, focusing on the effect on health of limitations to access for patients, including specifically for women, livelihoods in the Access Restricted Areas close to the Gaza perimeter fence, and food insecurity and poverty. Presentations were delivered by the Culture and Free Thought Association in the Gaza Strip, Première Urgence Internationale, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. Finally, the event concluded with a presentation by the Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq, which examined how protection and human rights vulnerabilities for Palestinians throughout the occupied Palestinian territory contribute to health challenges and health inequities.
Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative to the occupied Palestinian territory, thanked the Palestinian Ministry of Health and partner organizations and praised the collective efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the face of difficult circumstances. He stated, “The central message of the World Health Day campaign this year is that health is a right, not a privilege. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the profound health inequities that exist globally and that are evident for Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. This is exemplified by the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, where it is clear that no one is safe until everyone is safe.” Dr Peeperkorn invited participants to join in collective advocacy efforts for the right to health of Palestinians and wished all a successful World Health Day 2021 campaign towards Building a Fairer, Healthier World.
WHO/Oman Medical Specialty Board to build capacity in medical education
31 March 2021 – On 16 March 2021, the WHO country office in Oman invited representatives Dr Badar Al-Alawi and Ms Mona Al-Battashi from the Oman Medical Specialty Board to discuss inititiation of a collaborative project related to online courses that had been agreed between WHO and the Board in February 2021.
The discussion, led by Dr Lamia Mahmoud and Dr Kamila Al-Alawi from the WHO country office, focused on the various stages of course design, how to elicit engagement of relevant national and international experts and who from WHO and the Oman Medical Specialty Board should be involved in the development of courses.
The Oman Medical Specialty Boards specified that courses should cover 4 categories of participants – Board trainees, trainers and faculty and health care workers. The WHO country office expressed full support for the project that would not only benefit Oman but the Region as a whole.
Syria to get first deliveries of COVAX vaccines within weeks: WHO official
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syria will take delivery within weeks of its first COVID-19 vaccines from the global vaccine sharing platform COVAX, allowing it to kick off its national inoculation programme as early as next month, the U.N. health agency’s country head said on Wednesday.
The first shipments are from a consignment of one million doses of AstraZeneca Serum Institute India (AZSII) vaccines, Akjemal Magtymova, head of the World Health Organisation’s Syria mission told Reuters from Damascus in a phone interview.
