Jorge Hinojosa
SPAIN’S Health Ministry has launched a nationwide suicide prevention line offering free, anonymous and confidential help to those in the depths of despair.
The dedicated line, 024, becomes operational on Monday May 9 and will be manned by workers at the Spanish Red Cross.
It is part of a €100 million plan by Spain’s government to provide improved mental health services and was announced last December in the Official State Gazetter (BOE).
Recent data from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) revealed that suicide is one of the ten main causes of death in Spain.
The association Ayuda a Niños y Niñas y Adolescentes en Riesgo warned that it received 20 times more calls for suicide behaviours on its hotline in the last decade.
Last April, a group of experts in the Senate called on the Spanish government to take action against suicide with a reported 11 people killing themselves each day in Spain, while a further 220 attempt suicide.
READ MORE:
- FOCUS: Mental health and the state of the nation in Spain
- MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS: Suicide leading cause of unnatural deaths in Spain with 10 Spaniards taking their own lives every day
- How the pandemic and strict lockdown in Spain caused a mental health crisis
