Every year since 2004, today's date, September 10th, has been observed as World Suicide Prevention Day. <br />The aim is to raise awareness of the issue... and fine ways to stop people from taking their own lives.<br />South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world,.. so the government has also made it a national observance.<br />Our Eum Ji-young has more. <br /> Data suggest that globally, someone takes their life every 40 seconds.<br />According to new figures published Monday by the World Health Organization, the number of suicides around the world in 2016, standardized by age, was 10-point-5 per every hundred-thousand people.<br /><br /> The WHO, in its report said one important way the global suicide rate can be brought down is to restrict access to pesticides, which can be used for self-poisoning.<br />For instance, Sri Lanka's suicide rate from 1995 to 2015, dropped by a whopping 70 percent after certain dangerous pesticides were banned. <br />Similar measures in South Korea reduced numbers by half from 2011 to 2013.<br /><br /> Despite these efforts, South Korea's suicide rate has been the highest among the OECD countries since 2005 -- the rate in 2017 stood at 24-point-3 people in every hundred thousand.<br />The first World Suicide Prevention Day was commemorated on September 10th, 2004.<br />In 2011, South Korea made national suicide prevention day a national observance, and designated the week starting on that date as Suicide Prevention Week... to educate people, raise awareness, and ultimately prevent people from taking their own lives. <br /><br /> Just this Monday, ahead of this year's observance, the government launched a national suicide prevention committee. <br />Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, who chairs it, said the current administration is the first to put the issue at the top of the national agenda.<br /><br />"It is important to set up a tight safety net in local communities to prevent suicides. We can prevent suicide only when more local communities work together."<br /><br /> The committee is planning to push forward with various programs such as a care system for senior citizens living alone, doing more to protect the vulnerable and running community mental health centers and encouraging respect for life.<br /><br />Eum Ji-young, Arirang News. <br />
