World Suicide Prevention Day

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This article is about suicide. Help can be called in emergencies by calling the European emergency number 112 or by telephone counseling .
Spanish logo of World Suicide Prevention Day

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) first proclaimed September 10th as World Suicide Prevention Day in 2003 . Since then, events have been held annually on this date, which are mainly organized by organizations from the health sector or suicide prevention.

background

The WHO justifies the declaration of this day of action with the fact that suicide is one of the greatest health problems in the world. Around 800,000 people take their own lives every year. That equates to one suicide every 40 seconds. This means that every year more people die from suicide than from all wars combined. Unrecognized suicides such as unclear traffic accidents, secret withdrawal of medication or refusal to eat in old people's homes are not recorded in the statistics. Almost 75% of all those who die by suicide are male. Triggering factors are often stress, financial problems, serious illnesses and family conflicts.

The day of action aims to sensitize the population to the fact that suicide is an enormous problem in the modern world. In this way, warning signals could be recognized earlier and fear of contact with this topic could be reduced. The number of 800,000 suicides per year is only seen as the tip of the iceberg. Because for every completed suicide there are 20 suicide attempts. About three out of four cases occur in poorer countries.

On average, at least six people are personally affected by a suicide. If suicide occurs in a school or workplace, it can affect hundreds of people.

Actions

"Love", the English word for love as a symbol of suicide prevention
Crisis phones have been installed at the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent suicides.

As a token of sympathy, the initiators ask you to put a candle in the window at 8 p.m. Apart from that, events take place in different locations. On September 10, 2006, 11,000 candles were lit for life around the Memorial Church in Berlin. On September 10, 2014, a large-scale campaign in front of the Brandenburg Gate raised awareness of the taboo subject of suicide.

Mottos

The day of remembrance has a different motto every year. These are with their English names:

  • 2003 - "Suicide Can Be Prevented!" (Suicide can be prevented!)
  • 2004 - "Saving Lives, Restoring Hope"
  • 2005 - "Prevention of Suicide is Everybody's Business"
  • 2006 - "With Understanding New Hope"
  • 2007 - "Suicide prevention across the Life Span"
  • 2008 - "Think Globally, Plan Nationally, Act Locally"
  • 2009 - "Suicide Prevention in Different Cultures"
  • 2010 - "Families, Community Systems and Suicide"
  • 2011 - "Preventing Suicide in Multicultural Societies"
  • 2012 - "Suicide Prevention across the Globe: Strengthening Protective Factors and Instilling Hope"
  • 2013 - "Stigma: A Major Barrier to Suicide Prevention" ( Stigma : A major obstacle to the prevention of suicide)
  • 2014 - "Light a candle near a window"
  • 2015 - "Preventing Suicide: Reaching Out and Saving Lives"
  • 2016 - "Connect, Communicate, Care" (Get in touch - communicate openly - take action.)
  • 2017 - "Take a Minute, Change a Life"
  • 2018–2020 - "Working Together to Prevent Suicide" (Hand in Hand for Suicide Prevention)
  • 2021-2023 - "Creating Hope Through Action"

See also

Web links