'Only 3% of Jordan’s health budget allocated to mental health'

AMMAN — Representing HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal, former health minister Saad Jaber on Tuesday opened the regional conference “Between Scarred Landscapes and Safe Havens: Visualising the Future of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in the Middle East.”

Organised by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), the two-day conference brought together policymakers, researchers, humanitarian workers, and mental health experts to examine the evolving role of MHPSS in a region marked by conflict, displacement, and economic hardship.

Jaber, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees at the Royal Hashemite Documentation Centre, called for greater investment in mental health, noting that only 3 per cent of Jordan’s total health expenditure is allocated to mental health services.

He also stressed that mental health is not only about survival, but also about restoring dignity and building societal stability. “In Jordan, over 70 per cent of primary health centres still lack mental health and psychosocial support services,” he said. “We need a shared framework, not scattered efforts.”

German Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Guido Kemmerling highlighted the importance of regional cooperation. “Today, over 2,000 professionals from across the region are gathering to share their experiences, helping reduce stigma and improve responses to violence and suicide,” he said.

"MHPSS initiatives across Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, and beyond have played a crucial role in reducing intercommunal tensions, supporting survivors of violence, and creating safe spaces where communities can reclaim agency over their lives," he added.

Since 2015, the GIZ Regional Project “MHPSS in the Middle East,”  commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), has worked to boost mental health systems in the region through community-based programming and cross-border knowledge sharing.

The conference also featured plenary sessions, panel discussions, and joint workshops aimed at scaling up MHPSS in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.

On the first day, Reem Abu Kishk, technical advisor to the regional MHPSS project, delivered a keynote presentation titled “The Journey of 10 Years of MHPSS in the Region”. Drawing on extensive field experience, she outlined the sector’s evolution from emergency response to long-term integration into development frameworks.

She also highlighted the growing demand for psychosocial support across the region, particularly amid ongoing displacement and socio-economic instability. “The stories of families we’ve worked with remind us why this work matters, and why mental health must no longer be an afterthought,” she said.

The conference participants also stressed that mental health must be placed at the centre of recovery strategies, not as a peripheral concern, but as a foundation for peace, resilience, and human dignity.