To enhance the role that sports can play in achieving mental health, an initiative was announced in Qatar to allocate public seats aimed at demonstrating the importance of mental health and providing advice on the importance of physical activity and sports in promoting mental health.
The initiative is to allocate one of the 32 “friendship seats” for each of the countries participating in the World Cup (Qatar 2022) to be built to be placed in prominent locations in Doha, including the areas of the tournament stadiums.
This initiative aims to promote physical activity as one of the main outputs of the Sports and Health project, so a special feature has been added to these seats where they are shown with illustrations with tips on easy and effective exercises that visitors can do for their physical health.
The “Friendship Seats” initiative is part of the “Sports for Health” partnership led by the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Public Health in Qatar, and is supported by FIFA, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, and the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH). “.
Mental health is one of the most neglected aspects of health care, despite the fact that one billion people in the world are affected by problems related to it!
And@WHO Launches the “Friendship Seats” initiative to promote mental health – which includes countries competing in a championship #world Cup that you host #Diameter
#WorldMentalHealthDay ????https://t.co/PsyGfhrA3y
— United Nations News (@UNNewsArabic) October 11, 2022
Final locations
The organizers of the initiative stated that soon the final locations for each of the 32 seats will be announced, and once they are installed, information will be exchanged on how residents of Qatar and visitors to the country can visit their national seats and other seats of other countries, in a display to support mental health promotion.
In conjunction with World Mental Health Day, the initiative was symbolically launched with a presentation of England’s seat at the World Innovation Summit for Health, a global health event held at Qatar Foundation.
The seat of England was opened by Mo Farah, the 10 gold medalist in the Olympics and world championships that made him one of the most successful long-distance runners ever, and was joined by Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. This is part of a dialogue on sports and mental health, which represents the inauguration of the initiative.
????| Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani inaugurates the “Friendship Seats” initiative with the aim of promoting mental health by allocating 32 “friendship seats” to reflect the number of teams participating in the World Cup #Qatar 2022 Where it will be built to be placed in prominent locations in #dohaThe English sports inauguration was also witnessed by Sir Mo Farah#Nadeeb_Qatar| #Diameter ???????? pic.twitter.com/VK7dF0ylUc
— Nadeeb Qatar (@NadeebQa) October 10, 2022
Inspirational story
Sheikha Hind said that meeting the famous athlete Mo Farah and listening to his inspiring story about how he left the Somali capital Mogadishu for London when he was a young child, and the challenges he faced in the field of mental health, highlighted the importance of sitting down and talking about our mental health.
“I am proud that Qatar Foundation’s global health initiative is among the initiatives that help shed light on mental health in this innovative and practical way,” she added.
The Friendship Seats initiative is aligned with the common goals and campaigns of each of the partner organizations, including the FIFA/WHO “Are You Alright” campaign and the “Are You Alright?” campaign. affiliated with the Ministry of Public Health of Qatar, and the pioneering friendship benches project originally developed in Zimbabwe with the support of the World Health Organization.
For her part, Qatari Health Minister Hanan Mohamed Al-Kuwari said that the seat initiative is a tangible and permanent symbol of the importance of the “Sports for Health” partnership and the goals it strives to achieve through the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar – the first tournament to be held in the Middle East and the Arab world. The legacy that the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Public Health are working to achieve.
Are you well ?
A national campaign aimed at raising awareness of mental health and how to deal with grief.#Are you well @MOPHQatar @HMC_Qatar @PHCCqatar pic.twitter.com/WyxwXficyB— Qatar Red Crescent (@QRCS) May 11, 2022
Are you well?
Al-Kuwari added that mental health is an essential component of the partnership, and that the goal of providing friendship seats is to find a place for residents and visitors in Qatar, during and after the FIFA World Cup, to meet and ask each other, “Are you okay?” Show their support for mental health.
The Qatari Ministry of Health had launched – in cooperation with a number of institutions – a campaign entitled “Are you okay?” In order to raise awareness of mental health.
The campaign aims to strengthen cooperation with a number of relevant institutions in the State of Qatar to encourage members of society to speak frankly and openly on issues related to their mental health, using the method of asking a close person, friend or colleague, “Are you OK?” To open the door to talk openly about the psychological problems that the individual suffers from and it is difficult for him to talk to others about them.
From park benches where people gather to football stadiums, where fans watch their teams play to spread joy and the promise of success through sport, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said seating is a simple but powerful way to promote mental health.
Ghebreyesus pointed out that the Friendship Seats initiative is a reminder of the importance of how health, in its psychological and physical aspects, is precious and important to all people and peoples, and how people can, through sports, communicate with each other in a spirit of solidarity and support.
Source : The island + Qatar News Agency (QNA)