United Nations, Sep 11 (UNI) Despite progress in national prevention strategies, one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Director-General has lamented, highlighting key findings of the agency’s latest report on global suicide estimates.
Speaking in Geneva ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day, recognised on 10 September, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “every death is a tragedy for family friends and colleagues,” yet many more suicides can be prevented. All countries should “incorporate proven suicide prevention strategies into national health and education programmes in a sustainable way”, he added.
Since WHO’s first report on the issue was filed in 2014, the number of countries with national suicide prevention strategies has increased, and now stands at 38. However, this participation “is still far too few and governments need to commit to establishing them”, WHO said.