Europe has the highest suicide rate in the world. Yet, only 10 Member States in the European Union have suicide prevention strategies. By incorporating prevention into national health, education and labour programmes, we can stop suicide and save tens of thousands of lives each year.
Brussels, 10 October 2019 – Thursday, 10th October 2019 marks World Mental Health Day. The theme selected for this year’s Day is suicide prevention. According to the World Health Organisation, every 40 seconds someone loses their life to suicide. Globally, over 800 000 people die of suicide every year. For every suicide, 25 other people make a suicide attempt. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15−29-year-olds.
Despite Europe being the region with the highest suicide in the world, only 10 EU Member states have a national prevention strategy in place. In a call to mark World Mental Health Day 2019, Mental Health Europe (MHE) urges national governments to act and the EU to take the lead in supporting Member States:
- To develop and implement national prevention plans and strategies to tackle suicide and suicide attempts
- To raise public awareness and understanding of mental health
- To invest in programmes, integrated services and community support.
“The social, emotional, and economic costs of suicide pose a significant burden on our society. Only by implementing effective preventive strategies we can improve the situation and reverse the trend. To achieve success, we need governments to act, and the EU to take the lead in coordinating these actions.” – Jan Berndsen, President of Mental Health Europe