Swelling Ukraine mental health crisis will be felt for generations: WHO

Local residents gather in front of a makeshift memorial near a partially destroyed residential building in Kyiv on May 15, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [AFP]

Over four years into Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine's mental health crisis is palpable and growing, the World Health Organization said Friday, warning the effects could be felt for generations.

The mental strain of the grinding war in Ukraine has long been a priority for the government and for the health response in the country.

Jarno Habicht, the WHO representative in Ukraine, pointed out that already in March 2022, a month into the full-scale war, the United Nations health agency had estimated that 10 million people would need support for mental health in the country.

"These needs have been increasing," he told reporters in Geneva, pointing WHO's latest data showing that "71 percent of people have episodes of anxiety, stress, sleepless nights".

"So, when we look at mental health, we see the impact now (and) we know that there will be impact for generations to come," he warned.

"From my personal perspective, we have work to do until the end of the century."

Habicht said the cumulative stress was clearly taking a broader toll on health as well, with two-thirds of people in the country reporting their health has worsened since the start of the war.

There was also "an increase of chronic diseases and burden of non-communicable diseases", he warned, pointing to an 11-percent rise in hospital admissions for stroke and a seven-percent hike for myocardial infarction.

He highlighted that health disorders were more common among Ukraine's more than three million internally displaced people compared to those who had not been forced to flee their homes and seek shelter.

But at the same time, health workers, facilities and transport are under near constant attack.

Habicht said as of last week, there had been more than 3,000 such attacks since the start of the war.

Those attacks had caused 239 deaths and 991 injuries, with every fifth attack affecting ambulances and medical transport, according to WHO.

"Healthcare workers are under constant risk," Habicht said.