Photo/Illutration A Ground Self-Defense Force member with a rifle stands guard in Juba, South Sudan, in 2016 on a United Nations peacekeeping operation. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Nearly 4 percent of Ground Self-Defense Force members deployed as U.N. peacekeepers in South Sudan during the 2010s showed suspected post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms afterward, a study found.

The analysis also found that poor health conditions, particularly sleep disorders, prior to deployment increased the risk of developing severe PTSD symptoms later.

“Humanitarian assistance missions by SDF members carry a heavy burden,” said Masanori Nagamine, a member of the research team and professor of occupational mental health at the National Defense Medical College.

“We want to support their activities and alleviate PTSD symptoms by taking measures to improve sleep and reduce anxiety in advance,” said Nagamine.

The research team analyzed the health survey data of 2,962 GSDF members who had spent six months in South Sudan on a U.N. peacekeeping operation between January 2012 and May 2017.

The health surveys were initially conducted prior to deployment and then followed six to 78 months after the GSDF members returned to Japan.

Of those surveyed, 98 percent were men. The members' average age was 33.9 years.

An evaluation based on international standards found that 117 members, or 3.95 percent of the total, showed suspected PTSD symptoms after returning from the mission.

When examining the relationship between health conditions shown before deployment and the later development of PTSD symptoms, sleep disorders were identified as a common risk factor, the research team said.

Japan dispatched a total of 3,912 peacekeepers from the GSDF’s engineering unit to South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011. Their primary mission was to improve infrastructure, repair roads and build facilities for international organizations.

However, tensions grew in South Sudan during the U.N. peacekeeping operation. A military conflict broke out in 2013 between the president’s forces and the faction loyal to a former vice president. A large number of civilians were killed in the civil war in 2016.

In December 2016, GSDF peacekeepers were assigned a new task to carry weapons and rescue U.N. officials and others who came under attack by armed forces, even if they were away from the peacekeepers' bases.

The findings of the research team, published in the international magazine JAMA Network Open, can be read at (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2821457).

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