Amman, Oct. 27 (Petra) -- Social Development Minister Wafa Bani Mustafa, representing Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, opened Jordan's first national conference on parental well-being, quality of life and family-support systems on Tuesday.
The two-day conference in Amman is organized by the Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS) in partnership with the Van Leer Foundation. It aims to establish parental well-being as a national priority within Jordan's quality-of-life agenda.
Decision-makers, government representatives, researchers, civil society organizations, development partners and people with lived experience are attending.
Bani Mustafa said Queen Rania's vision holds that a child's well-being cannot be separated from support for the child's family. She said this aligns with the National Social Protection Strategy (2025-2033), which seeks to promote empowerment and equal opportunity.
"The importance of this conference lies in being an inclusive platform for exchanging expertise and strengthening partnership between the public and private sectors, civil society and international partners, leading to practical recommendations that improve policies and services across the Kingdom," she said.
Amal Ireifij, Director General of the RHAS, said the conference takes an integrated view of family well-being. She said the discussions go beyond traditional mental health to cover factors shaping the parenting experience, from social support and family-friendly policies to environments that help families thrive.
Farah Jadallah, the Van Leer Foundation's representative in Jordan, stressed the need for institutionalization and sustainability. "We must move from a mindset of temporary programs to sustainable, institutional services that reach every family," she said. "Investing in parental well-being is not only a social priority, but a direct investment in our children's future and Jordan's prosperity." The conference sessions are organized around three themes covering emotional well-being, urban environments, and care policies.
The first theme focuses on maternal mental health, perinatal depression, and psychological and social support. One session examined maternal neuroscience and perinatal mental health, including the biological and psychological changes that pregnancy and motherhood bring about in the brain and the effects of mental disorders and early treatment on mothers and children.
The second theme explores care-supportive environments and local systems, highlighting urban planning, safe mobility, infrastructure, public parks, and municipalities’ role in designing family-friendly neighborhoods and public spaces that support community integration.
The third theme addresses innovation, systems thinking, and future policy, focusing on the use of behavioral science and the care system to guide national policies and plans across sectors.
On the first day, participants and visitors also went through four interactive awareness activities before entering the main halls. The activities used virtual reality and visual techniques.
The first highlighted psychological support for perinatal depression, while the second encouraged families to share household and care responsibilities.
The third stressed preparing schools to provide safe learning environments that protect children's mental and physical health and hygiene.
The final activity introduced the Urban95 initiative, demonstrating how urban design, safer streets and child- and family-friendly public spaces can ease the daily pressures facing parents and improve their quality of life.
The conference seeks to build a joint national platform that strengthens cooperation among the health, municipal, infrastructure, housing and transport sectors. It also aims to turn learning and insights into collective action and to produce institutional recommendations and commitments that guide future programs and policies supporting families and young children in the Kingdom.
//Petra// NQ
