DUHOK - Incidences of mental ill health among Yezidi women have increased since the coronavirus pandemic began, according to a study conducted by an NGO and medical professionals at a camp for the internally displaced in Duhok province. The October 2019 to April 2020 study was conducted at the Rwanga camp by Hawar.help, a registered non-profit organization with offices in the Kurdistan Region and Germany, with the supervision of renowned Yezidi psychologist and author Jan Ilhan Kizilhan. According to their research, a quarter of Yezidi women at the camp are in need of psychological treatment. Main triggers for the psychological ill health include suffering endured during persecution by ISIS, difficult living conditions as IDPs, and now, the coronavirus pandemic. "Comparing Dr Ilhan's 2019 and 2020 data, the number of Yezidi women who have had suicidal thoughts has increased by 47 percent," said psychologist Aylin Abdulsalam. "[Reports of] anxiety have increased by 11 percent, and trauma by 6 percent. Psychological disorders have increased by 10 percent." Fears about the pandemic have exacerbated mental illness among those with pre-existing conditions, including Manje Naamat a 50-year-old woman displaced from Shingal, and resident of the Rwanga camp. Though still afraid of the virus, a dozen regular visits to a treatment center at the camp have eased her condition. "I used to be afraid when I went to bed. With the spread of the virus, I was unable to sleep. I was in a bad situation, and used to say that soon my children will catch the virus, and that it will cause many to die. I have felt good since I visited the doctor [at the center]," Manje said. "I feel more at ease now, I take two pills per month, when previously I'd take one pill a day. Now, I take two pills per month and I feel very at ease." Iraq was once home to 500,000 Yezidis. Six years after the Islamic State seized the ethnoreligious minority's heartland of Shingal and its surrounding areas as part of its capture of swathes of Syria and Iraq, nearly 360,000 Yezidis remain in camps for the internally displaced; an estimated 100,000 have sought refuge abroad. International medical organisations and other NGOs have appealed for help in dealing with a "mental health crisis" among Yezidis. Reporting by Ayub Nasri Translation by Sarkawt Mohammed
