World Suicide Prevention Day is observed on September 10 annually. The day aims to raise awareness about mental health and suicide prevention. The World Health Organization estimates that over 800,000 people take their own life each year, that’s one person every 40 seconds.
An estimated one million people per year die by suicide or about one person in 10,000 (1.4% of all deaths), or “a death every 40 seconds or about 3,000 every day”. Even after such high numbers, there are only limited organisations that engage in conversations about suicide prevention.
This year due to the coronavirus outbreak as people are confined to their houses and keeping social life at pause for a while, there have been several cases of suicide across the globe.
History of World Suicide Prevention Day:
World Suicide Prevention Day was first implemented on September 10, 2003 by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and World Health Organisation. The first WHO World Suicide report was released in 2014 “Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative” which focused on suicide prevention and to make it a high priority on the global public health agenda.
IASP was established in 1960 by the late Professor Erwin Ringel and Dr. Norman Faberlow in Vienna. Now, it consists of professionals and volunteers from 77 countries. It is a Non-Governmental Organisation that is concerned with suicide prevention.
World Suicide Prevention Day 2020 Theme:
This is the second year that the WSPD theme is “Working Together to Prevent Suicide.” This theme will also be used for WSPD 2020. It has been chosen as it highlights the most essential ingredient for effective global suicide prevention- collaboration.
Powerful quotes on Suicide Prevention:
- “Never, never, never give up.”
- “The person who completes suicide dies once. Those left behind die a thousand deaths, trying to relive those terrible moments and understand… why?”
- “Place your hand over your heart, can you feel it? That is called purpose. You’re alive for a reason so don’t ever give up.”
- “When you feel like giving up, just remember the reason why you held on for so long.”
- “You have the power to say, this is not how my story will end.”
