Letter from Moderator:
Howdy! My name is Gabriel Wang and I am a senior at Texas A&M studying Electrical Engineering. My background with MUN began my sophomore year of high school where I was a delegate representing Gabon for UNEP. I enjoyed HAMUN so much that I eventually became Vice-President of MUN at my high school. My chairs (Anika Zaman and Melissa Hall) and I are extremely excited to hear your innovative proposals, and are looking forward to having a memorable HAMUN experience.
Committee Background:
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the UN that was established on April 7th, 1948 with its constitution stating its objective “is the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health.” WHO achieves this objective through several avenues including providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed, shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge, setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation, articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options, providing technical support, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity, and monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.
WHO has played a major role in global health and has had notable impact including the eradication of smallpox in 1979- the first disease in history to be eradicated by human effort. Since then WHO has addressed a myriad of health issues including HIV/AIDS, polio, measles, and more. Today its current priorities include communicable diseases in particular HIV/Aids, Ebola, malaria, and tuberculosis as well as the mitigation of the effects of non-communicable diseases such as sexual and reproductive health, development, and ageing, nutrition, food security and healthy eating, occupational health, substance abuse, and driving the development of reporting, publications, and networking.
Topic 1 : Mental Health for Youth in Conflict-Regions and in the Developed World
Topic Overview:
Millions of children around the world are currently in areas of conflict. The toll that this conflict has on the state of children’s mental health remains horribly detrimental. Many children suffer from PTSD, anxiety, and a myriad of other mental health issues due to the effects of living in areas of conflict. The World Health Organization currently has been active in responding to viral disease issues and vaccination problems for children in conflicted areas. The one area it has lacked devoting resources to is mental health for children.
Background:
According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in 2014, there were over 1.2 billion youth in the world and over 280 million of them experience a mental health condition.
Exposure to war and conflict is one of the greatest risk factors for PTSD and other mental-health conditions among adolescents. In conflict settings, children and adolescents often have disproportionately higher rates of morbidity and mortality compared with adults.
The types of trauma experienced in these settings have been found to include: combat situations, being forced into the role of child soldier, fleeing or being forced from their homes, witnessing violence – particularly the death of loved ones and the loss of parents or caregivers. Experiencing multiple types of trauma has been linked to increased risk of PTSD and other mental-health conditions.
A study conducted in 2009 found that approximately 50% of children affected by war developed PTSD symptoms. As most studies regarding conflict regions focus on PTSD which is a major consequence, there is a significant lack in data on other mental-health conditions that develop from these contexts.
Current Situation:
The committee of WHO currently has two core programmes for mental health: WHO MIND (Mental health improvements for Nations Development) and Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP). mhGAP provides knowledge and skills to health-care providers such as doctors, nurses and health-care workers to identify and manage these disorders.
In addition, WHO’s comprehensive mental health action plan 2013-2020 was adopted by the 66th World Health Assembly. The action plan calls for a change in the attitudes that perpetuate stigma and discrimination against people with mental health.
According to WHO, the four major objectives of the action plan are to:
●strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health
●provide comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health and social care services in community-based settings
●implement strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health
●strengthen information systems, evidence and research for mental health.
Although they have been created to combat mental health, there must be a focus on priorities and resources for the youth in these conflict regions and developing world in order to truly address the problem.
Blocs:
Middle East:
●Due to major conflict in many of these countries, there has been an influx of refugees from these countries with a large percentage being youth.
Graphics:
Discussion Questions:
●How can WHO methods and initiatives for mental health be better suited for youth and more specifically the youth in conflict-regions?
●What potential steps can WHO take before, during, and after war or other conflicts common to conflict-regions?