Community Mental Health Needs During a Public Health Emergency

Community mental health is crucial to the overall social and economic recovery of individuals, societies, and countries after emergencies. Pandemics and natural disasters are public health emergencies affecting both the community and frontline healthcare workers. In addition to demanding job, healthcare workers are at a higher risk of adverse effects on their mental health such as burnout, anxiety and depression. In the community, there are various types of social and mental health problems. Social problems include pre-existing conditions (poverty); emergency-induced (family separation, lack of safety, loss of livelihoods, disrupted social networks, and low trust and resources); and humanitarian response-induced (lack of privacy and undermining of community or traditional support). Mental health problems can also be pre-existing (mental disorders, alcohol abuse); emergency-induced (grief, acute stress reactions such as post-traumatic stress disorder); humanitarian response-induced (anxiety due to a lack of information). Most people will improve over time. However, people with severe mental disorders can be especially vulnerable during and after emergencies and they need access to basic needs and clinical care. There should be enhanced community self-help and social support, psychological first aid, basic clinical mental healthcare, psychological interventions, protecting and promoting the rights, and links and referral mechanisms. There is a gap in research examining mental resilience and well-being in healthcare personnel in natural disasters and public health emergency settings.