Exposure to violence and food and mental health security in the occupied Palestinian territories

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY Over 930 million people worldwide are estimated to be living in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS) – characterized by recurrent violence, conflict, or war – and experiencing food insecurity and mental distress. The detrimental effects of violent political events on food insecurity, and separately, on mental health are well documented. However, the impact of non-violent political events on food insecurity in FCAS is lesser explored. Furthermore, little is known about the differential cumulative impact of repeated political events – ranging from violent events (e.g., military assaults) to less extreme non-violent events (e.g., agreements) – on the relationship between food insecurity and mental health in FCAS. Quantifying the cumulative impact and capturing the intensity and severity of violent and non-violent political events is especially important in the context of protracted FCAS, where individuals endure prolonged exposure to violent and non-violent events, and stressors, such as food deprivation and insecurity, are likely to accumulate through time and impact mental health outcomes. We will leverage a longitudinal, geo-location political events dataset and three waves of repeated cross- sectional, representative household and corresponding individual survey datasets from a protracted conflict- affected setting, the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt); together, these data are uniquely positioned to permit examination of the relationships between political events, food insecurity, and mental health, and their intervening pathways. We reason that each discrete political event may function as a stressor and contribute to feelings of insecurity (across varying needs and including food) and mental distress. We expect that repeated occurrences of even non-violent, low extremity political events (e.g., establishing a political headquarter) each year can add up and exert its cumulative impact on food diversity, food insecurity experience, and on mental distress in a FCAS. Understanding the cumulative impact of violent and non-violent political events on food insecurity, incorporating individual behavioral changes and coping mechanisms, and mental health, will inform evidence- based interventions in FCAS. The evidence can allow for rapid response and improve the efficacy of humanitarian interventions during time of crises. This information is especially important given the recent increase in conflict and political events worldwide.