[Special needs of women and children after a disaster]

Disasters can have a severe impact on whole communities, but the impact can be especially difficult for the more vulnerable in our societies: women and children. This paper identifies a number of ways that women and children can be impacted, and explores some practical approaches that can serve to effectively address the special needs of women and children after a disaster. Specific community-based psychosocial practices are identified that can enhance the healthy psychological processes in children and women. This can be accomplished through the fostering of protective factors that strengthen what is known as "resilience processes". This is a new approach how to care to those who experienced disaster-related trauma or stress. It offers psychosocial methods that can be useful, practical and effective in post-emergency circumstances alternatively or integrated into standard medico-psychotherapy approaches where large populations of women and children are affected, particularly where people from cultures unfamiliar with western therapeutic concepts or interventions are affected. Possible applications and considerations for encouraging resilience processes in women and children who have experienced disasters are explored, along with a commentary about implications for applications in Switzerland.