COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health Among Internally Displaced Persons in Colombia

Today’s episode is part of our Seminar Series, in which we facilitate discussions on work conducted by teams of academic researchers and practitioners that relates to one of four thematic topics: 1) Crime Reduction & Police Accountability, 2) Climate Change Governance, 3) Displacement, Migration, & Integration, and 4) Democracy, Conflict, & Polarization.

This episode focuses on , presenting a discussion with researcher Andrés Moya (UniAndes), along with Cristina Gutierrez de Piñeres (United Way Colombia) and Diana María Pineda Ruiz (Fundación Éxito), representatives from the organizations that implemented the project's program in Tumaco, Colombia—a territory rife with armed conflict due to the drug trade. The study analyzed how the pandemic affected mental health and parenting stress among caregivers, many of whom are internally displaced persons (IDPs), through a psychosocial program that seeks to restore maternal mental health and improve early childhood development among violence-exposed families. Rosario Aguilar, EGAP member and Senior Lecturer of Comparative Politics at Newcastle University, moderates the conversation.