Virginia Barcones closes the XXIX Health Month of the Scientific Foundation Caja Rural dedicated to mental health

• It has stressed that the Government considers it a priority to tackle mental health problems and hence the Mental Health Strategy 2022-2026 endowed with 100 million budget in its first two years • It has expressed that health and research must go hand in hand and has recalled the endowment of 1 billion euros approved last Tuesday to attract talent and finance scientific projects • The telephone 024, which was born as a telephone for attention to suicidal behavior and which has expanded its attention, has received more than 170,000 calls in a year and a half throughout Spain • It has congratulated the winners donated by the Scientific Foundation, José María Ordoás del Hospital

November 30, 2023.- The Government delegate, Virginia Barcones, has closed the XXIX Health Month of the Caja Rural Scientific Foundation, an edition that has focused on mental health. In this regard, he explained that mental health is one of the main problems of today's society and that is why it has become a priority of the Government through the Mental Health Strategy 2022-2026. Barcones thanked and acknowledged the work of the Scientific Foundation, a work that “has enriched” Sorian society.

Virginia Barcones has closed the XXIX Health Month of the Scientific Foundation Caja Rural in an event that has taken place in the Aula Magna Tirso de Molina. His first words have been to thank the president of Caja Rural de Soria, Carlos Martínez Izquierdo, “for the firm and determined support”, to the work carried out by the Scientific Foundation. In this regard, he stressed that the commitment goes beyond the tasks that are typical of a savings entity and has given as an example “the work of the Soriactiva Foundation, whose main objective is the promotion and provincial development”.

He also thanked the work of the Caja Rural Scientific Foundation, personified in the figure of its director, Juan Manuel Ruiz Liso. Since 1995 the Foundation has worked for the health of Sorians from prevention and research. He has promoted the Mediterranean diet, promoted sports practice or analyzed the post-Covid 19 era. “The work of the Caja Rural Scientific Foundation has allowed Sorians and Sorians, thanks to these world-class and internationally renowned experts, to be aware of the latest scientific advances in health. With his work he has enriched Sorian society,” said Barcones.

The delegate of the Government congratulated the winners, starting with Professor José María Ordovás, professor of Nutrition and who was today named Doctor Honoris Causa by the University San Pablo CEU. Specialist in Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics and director of the Tufts University Laboratory in Boston (USA), who has received the ‘National Research Award 2023’.

The award of the Scientific Foundation is in addition to others such as the Gold Medal of the Spanish Society of Cardiology or the most important distinction granted by the United States Department of Agriculture. “The awards mentioned are important, but I assure you, admired professor, that the one we celebrate today is awarded with all the affection and recognition that our land is able to offer, and that, as a Soriana that I am, I assure you that it has a lot of added value,” he said.

Dr. Jesús Aguarón chairs the Soria Provincial Board of the Spanish Association Against Cancer and has received the ‘Human Values 2023’ award while the ‘Healthy Sorianos 2023’ award has gone to the health and non-health personnel of the Emergency Service of the Soria Hospital Complex.

This year’s edition of the conference organized by the Scientific Foundation focused on mental health. Specialists such as Javier Jiménez Pietropaolo, psychologist specializing in Clinical Psychology and honorary president of the Association of Research, Prevention and Intervention of Suicide, Elena González Romero, chief commander of the Psychology Service of the Command of the Civil Guard of Valladolid, and Ignacio Muñoz Siscart, psychiatrist doctor of the Psychiatric Service of the Acute Unit of Burgos, have passed through the Aula Magna Tirso de Molina.

Virginia Barcones has pointed out that mental health is one of the main problems of “these times without time that we have to live”, and therefore it is a “priority for the Government”. In this regard, he explained that the Mental Health Strategy 2022-2026 of the National Health System has been designed with 100 million euros in its first two years. It is a road map that is materializing in a series of programs and initiatives with the aim of guaranteeing rapid psychological care to the population, especially the child and youth population. It should be noted that some studies indicate that 59.3% of young Spaniards between 15 and 29 years of age recognize suffering from mental health problems or 1 in 4 young people have experienced suicidal ideas on occasion.

The Action Plan approved for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 is being an opportunity to combat the social stigma that accompanies these diseases and improve the facilities dedicated to mental health. In this regard, the Ministry has already transferred 54.4 million euros to the autonomous communities to implement the Mental Health Plan.

The delegate recalled that within that strategy is the implementation of the number 024 that has already received more than 170,000 calls in a year and a half in Spain. It is a number that was born as a telephone for attention to suicidal behavior and that has expanded its attention to emotional well-being and to attend to cases that give signs of realities such as loneliness or depression.

Virginia Barcones has asserted that “health and research go hand in hand”, as the Scientific Foundation Caja Rural knows well and hence the presence in the auditorium of the one considered by many as the father of nutrigenomics. In this regard, he added that the Government of Spain is aware of this importance, which, just last Tuesday, approved a package of calls from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities worth 1,000 million euros for calls for talent and research funding.

This is an unprecedented economic injection with the aim of financing public science systems and universities with more resources for research. Equally to invest in researchers and researchers to develop stable and worthwhile paid careers, attracting and retaining the scientific talent of our country. Of course, a portion of this funding is intended for health-related and adjacent programmes.