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First-aid guide for mental health in a disaster

Many villages like this one in the village of Eruparagot were badly affected following an earthquake and subsequent tsunami on Indonesia's Mentawai islands on 25 October 2010 Courtesy Howe/SurfAid
    GENEVA

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the publication of a first-aid guide to help field workers deal with psychological issues during disasters, such as earthquakes, droughts and tsunamis.



    “Knowing how to support someone who has just experienced a crisis event – to listen, to comfort and to help them regain control of their situation in practical ways – is key in crisis situations,” said Leslie Snider of the War Trauma Foundation, a Dutch group, which, with World Vision, helped write the Psychological First Aid Guide for Fieldworkers.



    The guide is designed to help humanitarian and emergency workers provide basic support to people in acute distress, including relief workers themselves, according to WHO.



    “This guide will enable us to rapidly scale up basic psychological first aid for adults and children throughout all our development and humanitarian emergency programming in almost 100 countries around the world,” said Stefan Germann of World Vision International.



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    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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