Gaza Mental Health
Donation protected
Doctors in Unite Appeal for the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
There is an unprecedented mental health emergency in Gaza. The recent 11 day bombing and shelling of this tiny, overcrowded strip of land used a new technique of continuous bombing which in some periods, usually at night, lasted as long as 40 terrifying minutes.
Israel’s high tech military – which gets an annual $3.8 billion from the US in a 10 year agreement made in 2016 under President Obama – does precision targeted bombing. Key infrastructure, 25 storey tower blocks, dense neighbourhoods of homes and shops, schools, hospitals, clinics, mosques were hit. There was no safe place to run to for shelter.
Among the 242 people killed were 66 children, pregnant women, the elderly, the sick. And two of the community’s most senior doctors were murdered with their families as they slept. Additionally, 1948 people are wounded, many very seriously. The disabling effects of such trauma of fear and grief on the community is devastating, and psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers are working more than overtime to help.
The demands on the internationally respected Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) are pushing its limits. We must support these key pillars of this community.
GCMHP is a leading mental health provider in Gaza with its population of two million, many of them refugee families from other parts of Palestine ethnically cleansed during the creation of the state of Israel.
The GCMHP uses a bio-psycho-social model of care, recognition of the context of injustice, oppression and recurring bombardment, which are constant aspects of care. See Just Act video, below, about the programme.
A child of 17 has lived through four bombing attacks, in 2008, 2012, 2014 (when there was also an invasion by Israeli ground troops), and now 2021. This is 91 days of bombing with no place to hide.
After the 51-day war in 2014, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that at least 373,000 children required direct and specialized psychosocial support. Children were showing symptoms of increasing distress, including bed wetting, clinging to parents, nightmares and much more. In fact, the whole population is deeply traumatised on a continuing basis by the economic and social effects of being blockaded by Israel since 2000.
GCMH staff work in several clinics, teams to go out into the community, others run telephone advice lines. They are a lifeline for Gazans.
We must support them.
To help us get the word out, can you please share the link to your Facebook Timeline, Twitter and anywhere you think will be helpful.
Doctors in Unite – Unite the Union
All donations will go GCMHP via a BMA branch in Tower Hamlets.
Short video about the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
CHILDREN IN GAZA CONFLICT WILL SUFFER FOR YEARS TO COME
Save the Children
There is an unprecedented mental health emergency in Gaza. The recent 11 day bombing and shelling of this tiny, overcrowded strip of land used a new technique of continuous bombing which in some periods, usually at night, lasted as long as 40 terrifying minutes.
Israel’s high tech military – which gets an annual $3.8 billion from the US in a 10 year agreement made in 2016 under President Obama – does precision targeted bombing. Key infrastructure, 25 storey tower blocks, dense neighbourhoods of homes and shops, schools, hospitals, clinics, mosques were hit. There was no safe place to run to for shelter.
Among the 242 people killed were 66 children, pregnant women, the elderly, the sick. And two of the community’s most senior doctors were murdered with their families as they slept. Additionally, 1948 people are wounded, many very seriously. The disabling effects of such trauma of fear and grief on the community is devastating, and psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers are working more than overtime to help.
The demands on the internationally respected Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) are pushing its limits. We must support these key pillars of this community.
GCMHP is a leading mental health provider in Gaza with its population of two million, many of them refugee families from other parts of Palestine ethnically cleansed during the creation of the state of Israel.
The GCMHP uses a bio-psycho-social model of care, recognition of the context of injustice, oppression and recurring bombardment, which are constant aspects of care. See Just Act video, below, about the programme.
A child of 17 has lived through four bombing attacks, in 2008, 2012, 2014 (when there was also an invasion by Israeli ground troops), and now 2021. This is 91 days of bombing with no place to hide.
After the 51-day war in 2014, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that at least 373,000 children required direct and specialized psychosocial support. Children were showing symptoms of increasing distress, including bed wetting, clinging to parents, nightmares and much more. In fact, the whole population is deeply traumatised on a continuing basis by the economic and social effects of being blockaded by Israel since 2000.
GCMH staff work in several clinics, teams to go out into the community, others run telephone advice lines. They are a lifeline for Gazans.
We must support them.
To help us get the word out, can you please share the link to your Facebook Timeline, Twitter and anywhere you think will be helpful.
Doctors in Unite – Unite the Union
All donations will go GCMHP via a BMA branch in Tower Hamlets.
Short video about the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
CHILDREN IN GAZA CONFLICT WILL SUFFER FOR YEARS TO COME
Save the Children
Organizer and beneficiary
Paul O Brien
Organizer
England
Kambiz Boomla
Beneficiary
