Press release
Action against Hunger alert on growing Distress among Professionals exposed to Violence
The war is entering its fifth year, exposing civilians to relentless violence. Among them, professionals and volunteers—doctors, nurses, paramedics, teachers, social workers, and community volunteers—are facing unprecedented psychological strain. Action Against Hunger is scaling up its mental health interventions near the front lines in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions to support workers who strive daily to support their communities, often at the expense of their own mental well-being.
Since autumn 2025, attacks targeting the Ukrainian energy infrastructures have intensified, causing widespread power, water, and heating outages. During the winter, when temperatures plummet to -20°C, these disruptions plunge hundreds of thousands of people into alarming survival situations and directly impact healthcare systems already under immense strain.
“The distress does not spare frontline professionals who work in extreme conditions, sometimes without light or heating. Whether they come from the medical, teaching or social sector, these community workers bear the weight of collective trauma while they remain, like other civilians, exposed to recurring strikes on their cities,” testifies Benjamin Martin, country director for Action Against Hunger in Ukraine.
With 3.7 million internally displaced persons, mainly concentrated in regions close to the front, the pressure on local professionals is immense. These services must meet the combined needs of residents and new arrivals, while in 2026 projections anticipate up to 504,000 newly displaced or evacuated people in oblasts near the front line.
This pressure, inherent in the massive population displacements, combined with the scale of the violence, is causing a surge in mental health needs. In 2025 already, 83% of the adult population reported a state of persistent stress and nervous tension.
In order to maintain a minimum capacity for care and to relieve medical teams, Action Against Hunger supports public health centers and rural dispensaries by providing medical furniture, medicines and essential consumables.
In addition to deploying psychological interventions for the population, a specific support system is offered to protect the mental health of frontline workers. In the Kharkiv and Sumy regions, Action Against Hunger psychologists are providing psychosocial support to professionals and volunteers through five group sessions designed to strengthen participants’ resilience and prevent burnout and compassion fatigue. This program includes exercises and reflection on self-awareness and limitations, analysis of practices, stress and emotion management, specifically adapted for frontline workers.
In 2026, the humanitarian response in Ukraine is funded at only 13.5% of its needs. It remains weakened by a reduction in American and European funding, a setback that comes at a time when hostilities are intensifying, marked by increased attacks on energy infrastructure and growing vulnerability of populations.
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