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World Mental Health Day focus on ‘Suicide Prevention’


Bangladeshpost
Published : 10 Oct 2019 06:33 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 08:03 PM

In order to raise awareness regarding mental health issues and mobilize efforts to support mental health, World Mental Health Day is observed across the world on October 10.

World mental health day theme for 2019 is suicide prevention. The main objective behind making suicide prevention the key focus this year is to attract the government’s attention to the issue so that it is given priority in public agendas across the world, report agencies.

The World mental health day 2019 gives an opportunity to all those who work in the field of mental health issues to talk about their work and raise awareness regarding what more can be done to make mental health care a reality for people across the globe.

World mental health day 2019 Activity: 40 seconds of action

According to WHO, almost every 40 seconds, someone loses their life. Hence, WHO has launched an awareness campaign called “40 seconds of action” to raise awareness of the large scale of suicide around the world and the role that each of us can play to help prevent it.

Suicide is a global health problem and one of the main causes of death among youngsters, especially those aged between 15-29 years. Since years, WHO has been treating suicide as a priority issue. The topic has also attracted interest from a lot of other fields including philosophy, religion, medicine, sociology, bioethics, law and psychology.

Suicide: What are the primary reasons that drive young people to suicide?

Numerous reasons lead an individual, especially a young person to commit suicide and these include failure in studies, childhood trauma, family disharmony, violence, sexual abuse, cyberbullying and bullying.

However, what is more important is suicide prevention and what can be done towards it. The issue deserves increasing attention especially with the rise in other mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.

What can be done to prevent suicide?

Suicides are preventable, as the victims often do not want to end their lives, just the momentary pain in their lives. If at such times, they have someone to speak to or fall back upon, then it can be prevented. What is important is to reach out at such times and call out for help.

The primary focus should be on creating awareness about mental health and what can be done to prevent it at the national, community as well as individual level. Timely intervention is the first step to help those dealing with mental illness.

There is also a need for more strategic policies to prevent suicide and promote mental health. Here, social media and other forms of media play a big role, as they reach out to a large number of people within seconds.

Background

The World Mental Health Day is organized annually on October 10 by the World Federation for Mental Health. The World Mental Health Day 2019 is supported by WHO along with the International Association for Suicide Prevention and United for Global Mental Health