World Suicide Prevention Day:
World Suicide Prevention Day is observed on September 10th every year to highlight various ways by which suicide can be prevented.
- This day was marked on September 10, 2003, for the first time as an initiative by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) who teamed up to create a day dedicated to a very important message: suicides are preventable.
- The first year of the day was a success, so in 2004, the WHO formally agreed to co-sponsor the event again, making it an annually recognized day.
- Suicide is an act of intentionally taking one’s life and it is a major public health issue, especially during the testing times of pandemic and periods of lockdowns.
- Suicide is a global phenomenon and according to the World Health Organization, it was the 17th leading cause of death in 2019.
- Every 40 seconds someone in the world take their life, with 75% cases from the low and middle-income countries. Approximately 1.3% of deaths in 2019 were due to suicide.
