The Ministry of Health will present this Monday, May 9 the 024 hotline to suicidal behavior. On February 23, the Government announced that this telephone would be privatized, so its management will be the responsibility of the Red Cross.
This number will be free, anonymous and confidential, as advanced by the General Directorate of Public Health in a resolution dated February 10. The event will be chaired by the Minister of HealthCarolina Dariasand in it the author of the book will intervene I name you, Dolores Lopezthe deputy director of the Red Cross Health Knowledge Area, Fatima Hairand the president of the Spanish Mental Health Confederation, Nel Gonzalez.
This telephone number will be launched after the requests of numerous groups, associations and parties that requested this measure to improve mental health care in Spain. A need that has been aggravated after the negative effects caused by the pandemic among citizens.
This number, however, has been announced since the December 9, when the Official State Gazette (BOE) reported the attribution of 024 to this telephone line, for which it has been inactive for almost four months. This measure is part of the 2021-2024 Mental Health Action Plan, which the Government endowed with €100 million.
Suicide, one of the ten leading causes of death
In recent years, several studies related to suicidal behavior have been carried out. The National Statistics Institute (INE) revealed that suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death in Spain.
The Foundation to Help Children and Adolescents at Risk He also warned that suicidal behaviors have multiplied almost 20 times in his telephone line in the last decade and those related to self-harm have multiplied by 56.
Similarly, last April a group of experts demonstrated to the Senate that 11 people commit suicide every day in our country and 220 try. In addition, the speakers warned that the curve has not been able to bend and remains with dramatic figures of almost 4,000 deaths in 2020.
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