The Parliament, under the aegis of the Sports and Youth Issues Committee, hosted the event on the findings of studies on the mental health of students within the age of 18-24 and the access to the services, introduced by UNICEF.

The UNICEF Resident Representative, Ghassan Khalil addressed the attendees: “The mental health of the youth is of highly crucial value since it guarantees the formulation of a healthy society. We can never foresee or predict our future but we still can estimate our tomorrow based on the quality of our care of children, and the degree of our investment in our children. Mental health requires special attention since it determines the life quality and existence of harmony in society in general”.

He hoped that today’s meeting will put a solid basis for close cooperation of the centers on the rights of children set up at the Universities with the Parliament with facilitation of UNICEF, and added that these are his last days on this position in Georgia. He thanked the Parliament for the support that he could always count on during the last 5 years in Georgia.

The Chair of the Sports and Youth Issues Committee, Irakli Medzmariashvili delivered a certificate of honor to Gh. Khalil on behalf of the Committee.

The Chair of the Education and Science Committee and a member of the Sports and Youth Issues Committee, Givi Mikanadze; the Chair of the Health Care and Social Issues Committee, Zaza Lominadze; and the Chair of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee, Mikheil Sarjveladze also addressed the attendees and dwelt on the importance of the access to the mental health services for the youth.

The UNICEF representative, Nana Pruidze; the representative of the UNICEF Young Advisors’ Group for Mental Health, Tinano Gvelesiani; and the Professor of Tbilisi State Medical University and the Chair of the Society of Georgian Psychiatrists, Eka Chkonia introduced the presentation of the key findings of the study.

The event was as well attended by the representatives of the executive authorities, state universities, NGOs and experts. UNICEF assigned the Research Organization “ANOVA” to conduct a study.

The study has been coordinated by the university child centers. Over 3000 students from various universities participated in the study answering questions concerning their awareness of mental health.