Mental health awareness is arguably one of the most pressing issues we’re currently facing in the world today – highlighted more by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Nurturing mental health improves our daily functioning and helps us tackle some physical health problems linked to mental health conditions.
Despite the importance of stable mental health to our daily lives and productivity, unfortunately, there also tends to be a significant stigma attached to anything related to mental health. Hence, maintaining positive mental health and treating these conditions is crucial to stabilising constructive behaviours, emotions, and thoughts. This necessitates acknowledging significant mental health efforts and working to overcome the barriers that keep us from addressing mental health in a positive, productive way.
Yesterday to mark World Mental Health Day, an initiative allocating public benches, ‘Friendship Benches’ to promote the critical importance of mental health and the role that football and sport more broadly can play in promoting mental well-being was launched across the 32 nations participating in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The initiative is part of the Sport for Health partnership led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MOPH).
The initiative is supported by FIFA, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), the Friendship Benches NGO and the WHO Universal Health Coverage Partnership. In Qatar, the benches will be presented at Stadium 974.
Minister of Public Health H E Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari said the benches project was a tangible, lasting symbol of the importance of the Sport for Health partnership. She added that mental health is a core component of the Sport For Health partnership and stressed that MoPH’s goal is for the Friendship Benches to provide a place during and after the World Cup for residents and visitors to engage in dialogue and physical activities.
In line with the initiative, this year’s Mental Health Day is themed ‘Make mental health & well-being for all a global priority.’ It presents an opportunity for people with mental health conditions, advocates, governments, employers, employees and other stakeholders to recognise progress in this field and to be vocal about what needs to be done to address the issue and promote mental health inclusivity. The MoPH encourages people to seek professional mental health services by calling the helpline 16000. The helpline is available from 7 am to 3 pm, Saturday to Thursday.
