Mental Health of Populations Exposed to Biological and Chemical Weapons1

1 This document has been prepared to be read as a stand-alone guide. This document is a supplement to the second edition of the WHO publication Public Health Response to Biological and Chemical Weapons: WHO Guidance (in press a), which is accessible at the following Web address: http://www.who.int/csr/delibepidemics/biochemguide/en/index.html. This document has been written by Drs Mark van Ommeren and Shekhar Saxena and includes the main points of (a) Norwood A. Biological Terrorism: Psychological Consequences and Their Management, 2002 (unpublished document) and (b) WHO. Mental Health in Emergencies: Mental and social Aspects of Populations Exposed to Extreme Stressors. WHO: Geneva, 2003 and is consistent with (c) the ‘mental and social aspects of health standard’ of the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (Sphere Project, 2004).

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