To mark World Suicide Prevention Day, Twitter has come up with a new emoji when people tweet with the hashtags #WorldSuicidePreventionDay #SuicidePrevention #WSPD2019, #WSPD, #आत्महत्यारोकथामदिवस. The emoji, an orange ribbon, will appear between September 10 and October 30.
“As a mark of support for this important day, Twitter, in partnership with the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), is making its special emoji live for a month,” a statement released by Twitter said.
According to World Health Organisation data, every year close to 800,000 lives are lost to suicide, making it one suicide every 40 seconds. And as per the National Mental Health Survey 2016 on a nationally representative sample of 34,802, it was found that 13.7% of Indians will develop a mental health issue some time in their lifetime. To raise awareness of this issue in India, Twitter will partner with White Swan Foundation and to provide #adsforgood grants.
As part of the campaign, names #OctoberAllie, White Swan Foundation will host a series of Twitter Live sessions and Twitter Chats with experts on topics varying from myths associated with mental disorders, coping mechanisms, dealing with guilt, how to seek help, identifying a mental health ally, and how a community can come together to prevent suicide. The campaign will go live on World Suicide Prevention Day and will run until World Mental Health Day in October.
Senior Manager of Public Policy at Twitter India Shagufta Kamran said that suicide prevention requires unified efforts at a global scale. “Addressing mental health needs collaboration between all the relevant organisations – both public and private. We have seen support communities thrive on Twitter and we recognise our role and responsibility to help ensure that people can access and receive support when they need it most,” said Kamran.
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