Food insecurity is rising globally and with it, a mental health crisis.
Approximately 258 million people in 58 countries face life-threatening hunger, according to the 2023 Global Report on Food Crises. All over the world, climate crises are accentuating the problems of access to water and food. In countries like Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it is difficult to find mental health support, but the connection between psychological health and hunger is becoming increasingly recognized and addressed.
Mental health conditions and hunger are a cyclical problem—if you are feeling psychological distress, you are less likely to be able to live as you wish and to meet your basic needs (eating, sleeping, caring). A mother who has suffered from trauma may have trouble breastfeeding—a critical source of nutrition for newborns. At the same time, the daily stress and struggles to find enough food and water can often lead to psychological distress.
Action Against Hunger, which treats life-threatening malnutrition around the world, works to address this critical link. For this reason, mental health and psychosocial support are increasingly part of our programs.
In Sierra Leone, 81 percent of the population, more than 6 million people, lack reliable access to nutritious and affordable food. Costs have increased 46 percent in the last year, and the average household is spending more than half of its income on food. This is partly due to high input prices, extreme weather, and conflict, which resulted in a decrease in local food production. In 2022, 29 percent of farmers planted less than normal and 38 percent saw their harvests decrease.
These stressful conditions have negative consequences on mental health in the country. Participants in a local program cited a lack of resources to meet basic needs, including food, as the leading cause of their psychological distress. While waiting for the Mental Health Act to replace the Lunacy Act of 1902, which categorizes people with mental health issues as criminals impacted by witchcraft or demonic possession, mental health and psychosocial support are still limited in the country.
To address this crisis and change perceptions in Sierra Leone, we launched a three-year health project, including a mental health and psychosocial support component, reaching more than 3,500 women and men through home visits, support group discussions, and adolescent-friendly spaces. The vast majority of participants improved their well-being.
Similarly, in Afghanistan, decades of natural disaster, conflict, and drought have left more than half the population, 20 million people, food insecure, and 6 million on the brink of famine. The recent Taliban takeover plunged the country even deeper into a humanitarian disaster. Not surprisingly, the new government's systematic removal of women from the public sphere has severely impacted the country's mental health.
In response to Afghanistan's growing mental health crisis, we launched a free and anonymous mental health hotline last August. An overwhelming number of women called (82 percent), who report family or gender-based violence, suicidal ideation, self-harm, poverty, and isolation, among other issues. A significant number of callers are also illiterate (36 percent), so the hotline offers a rare lifeline.
In addition to providing immediate help, the hotline refers callers to treatment, including individualized care plans and follow-up sessions. "Initially, I came with a lot of burdens on my shoulders and now, after the course of counseling, I feel much better," said one anonymous caller.
Hunger is rampant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where 1 in 4 people are experiencing a food crisis, including 5.4 million on the brink of famine. Conflict has led to the displacement of millions of Congolese, and the violence has made humanitarian intervention difficult. Despite this, we have continued to provide life-saving assistance to internally displaced people in camps across the country.
In eastern DRC, countless children have grown up with conflict as their only reality. To provide an emotional outlet for traumatized children living in a camp, our hunger treatment teams facilitate group coaching on how to manage mental health. A 12-year-old, Ariel, who lost his father "during the war," said of the coaching, "Now, I feel better. We play and learn to get along with the other children. When I came here, I felt very bad."
For Jacques Mufuni, Action Against Hunger psychologist and deputy program manager in the DRC, immediate mental health care for children is crucial to their security now and in the future. "If we don't take care of them, we risk the entire province facing repercussions down the road. We risk disturbing the kids' daily lives, influencing their school work, their social life, and their integration into society," he said.
The challenges people face in Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and the DRC highlight the inextricable link between mental health and hunger. Food insecurity is both a cause and consequence of psychological distress. Awareness of the connection between the two is essential for improved humanitarian care and global well-being.
Guillaume Pégon is head of the mental health psychosocial support unit at Action Against Hunger.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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