The Government delegate in Cantabria, Eugenia Gómez de Diego, has held a meeting with representatives of the Landscape Association, a Cantabrian entity dedicated to suicide prevention and support for people in mourning and survivors. Both have agreed on the need to "break the silence" and "tackle head-on and head-on" this problem, which they consider a public health priority.
After the meeting, held at the headquarters of the Delegation, Gómez de Diego insisted on the importance of involving key sectors such as health, education, the media, the judicial system, security forces and bodies or social services, with a multidisciplinary and coordinated approach. "Only with the commitment of the whole society will we be able to move forward in suicide prevention," he said.
The delegate recalled that, at the international level, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 700,000 people take their lives every year, which makes suicide one of the main causes of mortality and the first of unnatural death. In Spain, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in 2023 there were 4,116 deaths due to this cause.
In this context, he has stressed the importance of the first Action Plan for Suicide Prevention promoted by the Government of Spain and approved last February at the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System.
This document, said Gómez de Diego, will serve as a basis for each autonomous community to develop its own plans, integrating the experience of multiple actors and creating solid support networks for survivors and loved ones.
Media involvement
Among the measures addressed, the Government Delegation has proposed to the regional executive the inclusion of media representatives in the working group on prevention, given the crucial role of information processing.
In addition, within the scope of her competences, the Government delegate has undertaken to promote the training of the State Security Forces and Corps in intervention and accompaniment to relatives, and, on the other hand, the installation of posters with preventive messages and the number 024 in points identified as sensitive will be analyzed.
Among the commitments made by the Government delegate is also the commemoration of the World Day for Suicide Prevention, on 10 September.
Nuria Terán, Marta González, Federico Talledo and Eduardo Frechilla participated as representatives of the Association.
Break the taboo
For their part, the members of LANDSCAPE, whom Gómez de Diego has praised for his "incredible altruistic involvement and preparation", have called for the need to correct the shortcomings of the public administrations with the victims and, among other measures, have proposed deepening the psychological autopsy and have emphasized the identification of possible responsibilities derived from suicidal behavior.
Both sides have agreed that this is a "long-term and continuous" work, whose first step is "to break the taboo, make the problem visible, put means and promote a public discourse that contributes to prevention".
Calls 024
The Ministry of Health promotes Line 024 of attention to suicidal behavior. It is a telephone line to help people with thoughts, ideations or risk of suicidal behavior, and their relatives and relatives, basically through emotional containment through active listening by the professionals of 024, the recommendation to contact the health services of the SNS or the referral to 112 in cases where an emergency situation is perceived.
The Line 024 of attention to suicidal behavior has received about 2,500 calls from Cantabria since its creation, which has just been three years old.