Australian envoy praises Kapil Dev's 'Khushi' NGO in mental health partnership
Apr 23, 2024
New Delhi [India], April 23 : Australia's High Commissioner to India, Philip Green OAM, has expressed enthusiastic support for mental health initiatives, highlighting the critical importance of addressing mental well-being in today's society.
In a recent interaction with ANI, Green emphasised the significance of collaborative efforts to promote mental health awareness, particularly among students and teachers.
Green also commended the work of 'Khushi', an esteemed institution dedicated to mental health advocacy, noting its substantial contributions to the cause.
He also lauded the involvement of cricket legend Kapil Dev in this endeavour, emphasising the potential impact of their partnership.
"It's so important that we all work harder on our collective mental health," Green remarked adding, "And working with students and with teachers to improve understanding of mental health is vitally important. So we're delighted to be able to be partnering with Khushi, an institution that's done a huge amount of work already and also with the world-famous Kapil Dev. To take this partnership forward, we're delighted to be part of it."
In addition to his remarks on mental health initiatives, Green addressed the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, expressing deep concern for the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
"On crisis in the Middle East - First of all, we're desperately concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. That is dire and ordinary women, men and children are experiencing enormous difficulties in their lives," he said.
He emphasised the need for better access to humanitarian aid and advocated for a ceasefire to mitigate the suffering of civilians. "We in Australia are trying to cope with humanitarian aid but frankly, there needs to be much better access to that. We've also pushed for a humanitarian pause in conflict, and one that could end could lead to durable ceasefire," the Australian envoy added.
Green called for both Israel and Hamas to consider the humanitarian consequences of their actions, underscoring the urgency of ending hostilities and securing the release of hostages.
"We think that Israel needs to bear into account the costs of its actions on the civilian population of Israel. We support a ceasefire, but we think it has to be both ways... Hamas' outrageous attacks on Israeli people must end and they must release the hostages," he also said.
