Although mental health is increasingly talked about publicly, today, in its day, I want to share one of its facets that, although not evident to many, is cyclical and devastating: the relationship between hunger and mental health. In my work at the humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger, I have witnessed how a lack of food not only weakens the body, but also erodes psychological and social well-being, creating a vicious cycle from which it is difficult to escape. This World Mental Health Day It should be a reminder of the importance of a psychosocial approach to the fight against hunger.
Hunger is, in itself, a traumatic experience. More than 768 million of people around the world live with the uncertainty of not knowing if they will be able to eat today. This constant tension affects not only their physical well-being, but their ability to make decisions, to care for themselves and their loved ones. I have seen it in many places, from refugee camps to communities devastated by natural disasters or conflicts. The psychological distress generated by food insecurity – not having access to enough nutritious food – not only weakens people, but is one of the walls that makes it difficult to break the hunger cycle and poverty.
In Action Against Hunger, we have 40 years working on 50 countriesmany of them affected by wars, natural disasters and economic crises that threaten the psychosocial well-being of individuals, families and communities According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 80% of people with mental health conditions They live in low- and middle-income countries, and those same countries are also where hunger is most prevalent. Therefore, for us, it is necessary to work from a holistic approach that includes physical health, nutrition and, of course, mental health.
The traumatic experience of hunger generates profound psychological changes. I have worked with mothers who, under the weight of anxiety and depression, cannot adequately care for their sons and daughters. Your symptoms of anxiety and depressionexacerbated by the lack of access to food, have a direct impact on the nutrition of the little ones. Studies have shown that children of mothers with depression have between three and six times more likely to suffer from acute malnutrition. This underlines the importance of intervening not only from a nutritional perspective, but also a psychosocial one.
At Action Against Hunger we know that for a person to overcome malnutrition or recover their livelihood, their mental health must be protected and strengthened. That’s why we integrate psychosocial support in all our interventions. From nutrition programs in Latin America to livelihood programs in Spain or Asia, we work on three fronts: strengthening individual psychosocial well-being, the capacities of fathers, mothers and caregivers to promote a positive family environment, and the structures and capacities communities to promote and protect the mental health of their members.
One of the key principles of our way of working is fit our interventions to needs and characteristics of each person. How a 12-year-old girl experiences and responds to a crisis is not the same as a person over 65, or people from different cultures. The tools and needs that each person has to face and recover from these situations are different, and it is crucial to adapt our intervention accordingly. Furthermore, we always work with communitiesbecause we firmly believe that they are not only recipients of help, but also have the power to create well-being environments. Community health workers play a key role in this process, helping to promote and protect the mental health of all members of the community.
Personally, I have been able to see how when we integrate psychosocial support into our work, people take awareness of the importance that self-care has on them and their close ones. It calms them to understand what is happening to them, to see it as something normal under those circumstances and not feel alone in their emotional reactions, being able to share experiences with other people in your community and learn from them. This gives them a big boostwhich undoubtedly has an impact on the way they face and recover from the difficult situation in which they find themselves.
We know that in many of the contexts in which we work, especially in the middle of an emergency, mental health is not always perceived as a priority. However, is key. A clear example of how we integrate mental health in our interventions is our work in Türkiye after the earthquakes of February last year: in safe and friendly spaces for mothers and babies, or Mother Baby Friendly Spacesdesigned to promote breastfeeding and complementary feeding for boys and girls under two years of age, where we also strengthen perinatal mental health. Mothers who participate in the program receive advice and support to manage stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression. We know that an emotionally healthy mother is crucial to the healthy development of her child.
They tell us it themselves. For example, a Syrian refugee in one of the camps for those affected by the earthquake in Turkey explained to us that she had already had to go through very harsh conditions after fleeing the war in her country when the earthquakes took away, once again, everything they had. . Psychosocial support activities became a refugio that helped him cope with this immense loss, providing him with tools to manage your emotions and putting her in contact with other mothers. The deep sense of solidarity and support he felt, he told us, was crucial when everything else fell apart.
Other women displaced in camps by the earthquakes told our teams that going through a pregnancy during such a devastating time was terrifying and filled them with worries: about how to give birth, how to adapt to living in a camp with a newborn… and that it was the psychosocial support received in these friendly spaces which allowed them overcome your fears, prepare for the challenges of motherhood and better understand how to care for their sons and daughters.
Hunger is a symptom of a deeper problem, which undoubtedly includes deterioration of mental health. To break the cycle of hunger, we must address both the physical and psychological needs of those affected. On World Mental Health Day, it is crucial that we understand mental health not as a service, but as a right for all peopleespecially those who live in extreme situations vulnerability.
