Friend: In Kenya’s Dagahaley camp, one of three camps that make up the Dadaab refugee complex, the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating an already enormous mental health crisis.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs a mental health clinic as part of a 100-bed hospital serving Somali refugees in Dadaab. Many of the people there have never known life outside of the camp, and the increased uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic has created a “groundswell of desperation” among refugees in the complex.

“COVID-19 has ended what little chance refugees had of escaping their degrading lives in the camps, compounding the mental distress for many who had nothing left but hope to cling to,” said Jeroen Matthys, MSF project coordinator for Dadaab.

Read on to see what our teams on the ground are doing to address the dire mental health situation in Kenya’s Dadaab camp, and how your support is making a difference.

The mental health clinic run by MSF in Dagahaley camp has seen more than a 50 percent increase in psychosocial consultations from last year. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact access to care around the world, desperate refugees in Dadaab remain extremely vulnerable.

Take a moment to learn more about the growing mental health crisis in one of the world’s largest refugee camps, and how your support is helping our teams provide care at this critical time.