The 2nd Global Mental Health Conference Kicked off today under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired, President of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) .
The conference, organized by the School of Medicine in cooperation with the Global Mental Health Initiative and the Jordan Association of Psychiatrists, aims to identify causes of mental disorders and psychological and psychosocial challenges in the region.
In her remarks, HRH Princess Dina said: "Unfortunately, mental health is not included in the list of non-communicable diseases".
HRH explained that excluding mental health from the list of non-communicable (chronic) health diseases at the 2011 world meeting of the United Nations on non-communicable "is a serious and real problem."
Princess Dina also stated that there is a need for an integrated health care policy that includes mental health, achieved through collaboration between family medicine and primary health care to provide multi-faceted health care services.
Prof. Azmi Mahafzah, UJ President, said that promoting mental health is an integral part of public health, adding that "biological, environmental and socio-economic factors also have major influences on mental health".
Mahafzah considered that mental health is essential to our collective and individual ability as human beings to think, affect and interact with each other, earn a living, and enjoy life.
He stressed that respect and protection of civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights are also fundamental factors to the protection and promotion of mental health.
Moreover, he also called for the integration of mental health promotion into government and intersectoral strategies and policies.
From his part, Dean of the School of Medicine, conference president, Prof. Nathir Obaidat, addressed in his speech, mental health in academia, calling on academics to further study mental Health and mental wellness.
Obaidat said that the lack of social welfare, poverty, and destitution negatively affects the individual's thinking, sensitivity and behavior, and leads to social and psychological disorders.
According to Obaidat, Mental Health issues have received less attention and support in the medical setting in general and more specifically in low resource countries, adding that the conference aims to shed light on the importance of global mental health in our region, especially during such challenging times, where the Syrian crisis has displaced millions of people out of Syria.
300 experts and scholars from Europe, America, and the Arab countries are attending the conference, as well as representatives of governmental and non-governmental medical institutions in Jordan.
The three-day conference will also include, in addition to presenting 30 research papers, roundtable discussions and an exhibition that showcases products by a number of medical companies.
The opening ceremony, which was attended by Jordanian Minister of Health Dr. Mahmoud Al-Sheyab included a short film on mental health prepared by Dr. Laith Al-Abadi from UJ's Hospital with the help of students: Yazan Halasah and Zahra Al-Tamimi.