(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 30 - Over 7 Ukrainian refugees out of 10 suffer from anxiety and 8 out of 10 cannot imagine a future, according to what was found with its own research on mental health among people who fled the war in Ukraine the Soleterre Foundation, a non-profit organization that works, according to its own definition, "for the recognition and application of the Right to Health in its broadest meaning".
From a first survey carried out by the Soleterrefra Foundation 4 March and 4 May on 447 Ukrainian refugees assisted (254 in Przemysl, Poland, and 193 in Lviv, Ukraine) - reads a press release from the Onlus - moderate, severe or very severe levels of anxiety (73% in the Polish sample, 78% in the Lviv sample), fear (47% in Poland, 74% in Lviv), worry (83%, 84%) and difficulty in imagining the future (84%, 78%).
"What worries the most are the conditions of one's family (43% in Poland, 25% in the Lviv sample) and being able to communicate with them was found to be an important protective factor, that is, it immediately makes them feel better (44% in the Polish sample). ".
"War - writes Damiano Rizzi, developmental psychologist and psychotherapist and President of the Soleterre Foundation, which has a team of 45 psychologists in the areas with the greatest influx of Ukrainian refugees - writes in the press release - not only destroys the economy and social development, but also ties family members, with catastrophic effects on the mental well-being of the civilian population, in particular the poorest one, which has fewer means and resources.
We are talking about a country, Ukraine, which in January 2020, well before the pandemic and the war, was selected by the WHO as a priority country to allocate a specific five-year program for mental health.
Depression rates were already the highest in Europe at that time and mental disorders the second cause of disability affecting 30% of the population.
Today, with a war in progress and about 6.5 million people who have fled the country and 8 million internally displaced people, according to UNHCR, the situation is enormously worse ", reads the note. (ANSA).
