For World Suicide Prevention Day, the provincial health authorities, in coordination with the Secretariat of Social Projection of the FEU and the University of Medical Sciences of Holguín (UCMHO), will develop a community activity in the Máximo Gómez Park at 9 a.m. tomorrow, this Saturday, September 9.
During the event, professionals from different fields will promote educational and cultural dynamics; in addition to sporting events to prevent suicide, a phenomenon that requires special attention since, according to statistical reports from 2022, the incidence is high, although there were fewer deaths from this cause in the province compared to the previous year.
Since 2003, September 10th has been promoted by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) together with the World Health Organization (WHO) to show that these acts can be prevented.
According to reports from the WHO, around 703,000 people worldwide take their own lives every year as they attempt it, a situation that the organization says “has a major impact on families, communities and countries”.
In addition, he acknowledged that there is no direct connection with a specific age, although in 2019 “suicide was identified as the fourth cause of death among young people between 15 and 29 years old worldwide.”
In Cuba, one of the fundamental goals of the suicidal behavior prevention program is to “reduce morbidity due to suicide attempts as well as mortality due to this fait accompli,” according to communication experts at the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap).
Therefore, preventive measures for this problem are essential at the primary health care level, starting from the general practice and nursing practice to the polyclinic, with cross-sectoral involvement and especially community factors.
A strength of the Cuban health system that must be used to its full extent is to have in every community a mental health center with basic health teams integrated into the work, made up of nurses, social workers, psychologists, doctors, addiction specialists and others The main task is the education and prevention as well as the differentiated care of people with suicidal behavior.
This Saturday, the community intervention to be developed for this date will be an opportune time to strengthen the training of health workers, educators, decision-makers and formal and informal leaders in communities in order to gain more lifelong gains in the prevention of suicidal behavior.
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Author: Lourdes Pichs Rodríguez
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