Consultancy – SMSP Study on mental health in people affected by armed conflicts in the DRC

Democratic Republic of the Congo
Consultancy – SMSP Study on mental health in people affected by armed conflicts in the DRC
Organization
Action Against Hunger France
Posted
16 Jul 2026
Closing date
15 Aug 2026
Part A: Terms of Reference for the Study
Context and Issues
Child malnutrition results from multiple determinants, both immediate and underlying. While food insecurity and biomedical factors are widely documented, international literature increasingly highlights the role of psychological distress, anxiety and depressive disorders, and post-traumatic stress in impairing functional and parental capacities. Perinatal depression and parental psychological distress are associated with lower quality parent-child interactions, reduced early stimulation capacities, and increased difficulty in mobilizing available resources for the child's nutrition and health. In this perspective, mental health is an essential underlying determinant of nutritional security.
This issue arises in a global humanitarian context marked by an intensification of crises. In 2026, nearly fifty countries are in a state of emergency and 239 million people require assistance (OCHA, 2026). Prolonged conflicts, forced displacement, and epidemics have profound impacts on individuals, particularly in long-exposed regions such as Ituri or North Kivu in the DRC. International estimates show a significant burden of mental disorders in these environments, but available data often remains global, heterogeneous, and difficult to transpose to local realities. Areas affected by prolonged crises, as well as certain vulnerable groups such as young children, adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women, caregivers, or people with disabilities, remain particularly under-documented. Furthermore, comparative and longitudinal analyses are rarely possible in unstable environments.
Since the 2000s, Action Against Hunger has integrated mental health and psychosocial support into its multisectoral strategy to combat malnutrition. In the DRC, the organization has been building programmatic databases since 2019 that include standardized measures of well-being, psychological distress, resilience, and perinatal mental health. This data offers a unique opportunity to produce contextualized analyses that better understand the role of mental health in vulnerabilities and to evaluate the impact of psychosocial interventions implemented in areas such as Drodro, Bambo, Goma, and Mweso since 2021.
Main Objectives
- Estimate the prevalence of psychological distress in the health zones of Drodro and Mweso, in relation to nutritional vulnerabilities.
- Document the mental health situation of under-studied high-risk groups in humanitarian contexts, particularly young children, adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and healthcare workers operating in unstable contexts.
- Evaluate the impact of psychosocial interventions on indicators of well-being, resilience, and psychological symptoms.
Summary of planned activities and expected results
The study will be based on a meta-analysis of programmatic data collected by ACF between 2021 and the first quarter of 2026 in the health zones of Drodro, Bambo, Goma, and Mweso. In line with the study objectives, the research will be deployed around two main methodological axes. The first axis concerns the prevalence and determinants of psychosocial distress. It will rely on a descriptive epidemiology approach that will examine variations observed according to displacement dynamics, sociodemographic characteristics, and the specificities of different groups, particularly children, pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW), and healthcare personnel. The measurement tools used will include, for adults, the WHO-5 to assess subjective well-being, the HAD for anxiety and depression, the PCL-5 for post-traumatic stress symptoms, and the CD-RISC for individual resilience. For children and adolescents, the study will use the CPDS and CRIES, while the EPDS scale will be used to document perinatal distress in pregnant and breastfeeding women. The second axis concerns the evaluation of the impact of implemented psychological and psychosocial interventions. It will consist of comparing scores obtained before and after interventions using the same tools. The protocols examined will include Action Against Hunger's protocols, WHO protocols, and EMDR variants, which are particularly relevant for nutritional security.
Overall, the methodology used will aim to produce solid and contextualized empirical evidence, allowing for an understanding of the evolution of mental health in humanitarian environments marked by instability, prolonged crises, and repeated displacements.
Overall, the methodology used will aim to produce solid and contextualized empirical evidence, allowing for an understanding of the evolution of mental health in humanitarian environments marked by instability, prolonged crises, and repeated displacements.
Dissemination and use of results
Debriefing workshops will be organized for local health authorities and humanitarian partners. The analyses produced may feed into national strategic reflections and
contribute to advocacy for greater integration of mental health into strateg...