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UNICEF / UKRAINE CHILDREN MENTAL HEALTH
STORY: UNICEF / UKRAINE CHILDREN MENTAL HEALTH
TRT: 2:11
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 20 AND 21 FEBRUARY 2024, KHARKIV, UKRAINE
21 FEBRUARY 2024, KHARKIV, UKRAINE
1. Med shot, entrance of the Multifunctional Spilno Centre
In response to the war in Ukraine, UNICEF and the Kharkiv oblast administration established the Multifunctional Spilno Centre in April 2023. The centre provides a vital haven for children and families affected by the conflict. The centre offers a comprehensive range of services, including psychosocial support, educational activities, and co-working spaces for parents.
2. Med shot, James Elder, UNICEF Spokesperson walking through Spilno Centre to meet some of the parents and children who are receiving support.
3. Various shots, children attending a drawing class in Spline Centre.
4. Wide shot, children's drawings are hanged on the wall of the class.
5. Various shots, Кaterina, a child psychologist, who works with children and their parents to overcome the trauma experienced during the military conflict. Кaterina’s husband is serving on the frontline. While her parents are in the occupied territories.
6. Wide shot, the Metro entrance of the Kharkiv Metro School, the only operating school in Kharkiv.
Despite the ongoing full-scale war, the education of Ukrainian children in Kharkiv persists, with twenty-seven key schools situated across five metro stations. These schools accommodate 2,129 students (including over 300 internally displaced persons) in two shifts, each lasting three hours. In Kharkiv, this represents the sole opportunity for blended learning.
7. Various shots, children moving around in the underground halls attending their classes in Kharkiv underground Metro school.
20 FEBRUARY 2024, KHARKIV, UKRAINE
8. SOUNDBITE (English) James Elder, UNICEF Spokesperson:
“Three young boys died here, burnt alive, they say, when a drone hit the oil depot just next to here. You can hear an air raid siren now. Seven years old, four years old, seven months old. I’m trying to get a sense of this, what was their home. Where were they hiding? Trying to imagine… Where were they hiding at that moment when flames and terror just engulfed? Where were these little boys seeking to hide? There’s nowhere to hide in this war. Nowhere to hide in wars.”
On 20 February 2024, UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder visits destroyed School №134, also known as Kharkiv Lyceum №134, located on Shevchenka Street in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The institution, specialising in linguistics and fostering German and English language studies, once thrived with 556 students and 41 teachers. It was destroyed by shelling on 27 February 2022.
Children in cities in Ukraine’s frontline areas have been forced to spend between 3,000 and 5,000 hours – equivalent to between four and almost 7 months – sheltering in basements and underground metro stations over the past two years, as air raid alerts sound above.
Since the war escalated in February 2022, relentless attacks – resulting in around 3,500 air raid alerts in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions and nearly 6,200 in the Donetsk region – have had a devastating impact on children’s mental health and ability to effectively learn.
The winter months have been particularly horrific for children, with thousands sheltering in cold, damp basements as an escalation of attacks left many families without heating, access to water and electricity.
“The war in Ukraine has shattered childhoods and wreaked havoc on children’s mental health and ability to learn,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Children have experienced two years of violence, isolation, separation from families, loss of loved ones, displacement and disrupted schooling and healthcare. They need this nightmare to end.”
“The continued shelling leaves little opportunity for Ukraine’s children to recover from the distress and trauma associated with attacks. Every siren and explosion brings further anxiety. Education is a pillar of hope, opportunity and stability in children’s lives, but it continues to be disrupted or out of reach for millions of Ukraine’s children.”
The psychological impacts of war among children are widespread. According to survey data, half of 13- to 15-year-olds have trouble sleeping, and 1 in 5 have intrusive thoughts and flashbacks – typical manifestations of post-traumatic stress disorder. Three-quarters of children and young people aged 14 to 34 recently report needing emotional or psychological support. However, less than a third sought help.
Parents across Ukraine report elevated levels of anxiety, excessive fear, phobias and sadness, decreased engagement in school, sensitivity to loud noises, and sleep troubles among children. At a time when parental support is needed most, half of parents surveyed report that they are struggling to support their children.
Across the country, 40 per cent of Ukraine’s children cannot access continuous education due to a lack of facilities. In areas nearer to the frontline, half of school-age children are unable to access education. Latest data show that the scale of learning gaps seen in 2022 compared to 2018 is equivalent to two years of loss in reading and one year of loss in maths.
Since the escalation of the war two years ago, UNICEF expanded its work in Ukraine and is currently present in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Poltava, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv to provide humanitarian assistance and critical support to children and families.
UNICEF’s work in Ukraine is focused on ensuring children have access to health care, immunisation, nutrition support, protection, education, safe water and sanitation, social protection, and mental health and psychosocial support.
In refugee-hosting countries, UNICEF works with governments, municipalities and local partners to strengthen national systems that provide refugee children and marginalized children from host communities with quality education, health care and protection services.
“Humanitarian principles, international humanitarian law and international human rights law must be respected. Children need a chance to recover, and the best way to do that is by ending this war,” said Russell.
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