Helping children exposed to war, terrorism, and conflict

Psychosocial Consequences - Children Exposed to Terrorism (free with registration)

Some scary statistics from an article by Barenbaum, Ruchkin, and Schwab-Stone (see the references, number 12, of this article):

Some approximated facts related to the decade 1993-2003 are the following:

1. Two million children were killed and six million children were injured or permanently disabled in war zones.
   
2. Of war-exposed survivors, one million children were orphaned and 20 million displaced to refugee camps or other camps.
   
3. Civilians comprise 80-90% of all who die or are injured in conflicts - mostly children and their mothers.

This Medscape article, reprinted from Current Opinion in Psychiatry, by Richard Williams, looks at the impact of war, disasters, and terrorism on children, psychosocial results, and how to create policies to combat these effects. It answers such questions as: What are the 4 universal characteristics of children's psychological responses to trauma? How can you provide psychological first aid? How can you identify those who need long-term interventions? Check it out for more infomation.