EU funds for Cyprus youth mental health project

The European Commission is to finance a project in Cyprus aimed at “strengthening the mental resilience” of youth in Cyprus, it was announced on Wednesday.

In addition to €500,000 in financial support, they will also provide technical assistance to the project alongside the health ministry and Unicef over the course of the next two years.

“Mental health and wellbeing among children and young people are a growing concern in Europe,” the commission said, announcing finance for the project in Cyprus and parallel schemes in Slovenia, Italy and the Spanish region of Andalusia.

“The project will provide capacity-building to address the fragmentation of health, social and education services, that often leads to uncoordinated interventions. It will also enhance healthcare professionals’ knowledge, awareness, and capacity to address mental healthcare needs in a timely and effective manner.”

The project was brought to Cyprus following a request submitted to the European Commission by the Directorate of the Nursing Services.

“One of the ministry’s strategic goals is to offer quality preventative care through the design, implementation and evaluation of preventative programmes and the promotion of public health,” said Nursing Services director Evagoras Tambouris on behalf of Health Minister Michalis Damianos.

“In Cyprus, the progress made in the field of public health in recent decades is enormous.

“However, in a society which is constantly evolving … we are obliged to further innovate and strengthen our services accordingly,” he said.

He added that both the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising cost of living were having a “huge impact” on people’s mental health and wellbeing, and that young people had been disproportionately affected by both crises.

He said the project will “contribute significantly” to the health ministry’s plan to develop a national strategy for mental health.

“Now is the correct time to strengthen our partnership with young people and promote mental health.”