The Current Mental Health Crisis of COVID-19 Pandemic Among Communities Living in Gedeo Zone Dilla, SNNP, Ethiopia, April 2020

The current COVID-19 pandemic is not still controlled around the world and affects all humans’ domains of day to day life. Peoples have killed themselves due to the fear of stigma by their community. This study aimed to assess the current mental health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic among communities living in, Gedeo zone, Dilla, Ethiopia. The study was community based cross sectional design conducted from March 10–Apr 10, 2020, using a multi stage sampling techniques. Structured interview, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), and logistic regression analysis (95% CI, p value < 0.05) was used. This study included 420 respondents who were living in the Gedeo zone. In total, 44.4% of respondents had a psychological problem (21.4% mild and 23% moderate level of the mental crisis). Gender female, monthly income below 500 ETB, and more than three family size were variables associated with the outcome variable (p < 0.05). Nearly half of the respondents had mild to the moderate mental crisis in response to the pandemic. It is better to give mental health support for the peoples living in the zone to enhance their mental resilience.