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Ten speakers from various fields of expertise for suicide prevention virtual event, ‘The Silent Pandemic’ by Dignity for Children Foundation

Dignity for Children Foundation calls in experts to share their expert opinions for ‘The Silent Pandemic’ virtual event. ― Pexels pic
Dignity for Children Foundation calls in experts to share their expert opinions for ‘The Silent Pandemic’ virtual event. ― Pexels pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 ― Dignity for Children Foundation has partnered with the Malaysian Association of Social Workers (MASW) and International Counselling Association of Malaysia (PERKAMA) to organise a suicide prevention talk, titled “The Silent Pandemic”.

According to the foundation, the lecture featuring ten professional speakers is vital because Malaysia has recorded many suicide instances this year owing to the pandemic's financial and mental crises.

In a statement, it highlighted that there were 468 suicide cases reported in the first five months of 2021 alone, up from 631 in 2020 and 609 incidents in 2019.

Co-founder Reverend Elisha Satvinder said suicides were mostly motivated by three factors including strained family ties, mental stress, and financial limitations.

“Suicide is considered a taboo subject for many and it is being addressed in isolation by different experts within their fields of expertise.

“We cannot work in silos and there is an urgent need for all parties to come together to look at this silent pandemic as a whole.”

Speaking to Malay Mail, Satvinder said that the organisation took the first step to organise the virtual event on 25th September, Saturday featuring talks from ten experts from 1pm to 7pm with a registration fee of RM50.

He said that the speakers are from various sectors including education, medical and social workers professionals.

“It is multi-disciplinary and we have experts from different areas giving and sharing their views on how best to address this pressing and tragic issue.

“The speakers are coming from various working environment such as educators, academicians, lawyers, doctors and mental health and social work professionals

“The objective was for participants and the speakers themselves to hear and learn from each other.

Satvinder said response has been positive with many having registered to participate in the online event, which is limited to the first 1000 attendees on a first come first served basis.

As of Friday, 181 reservations have been made.

Interested individuals may log-on to http://silentpandemic.netlify.app to learn more about the speakers, the programme, and the registration process.

*Note: A previous edition of the story contained an error which has since been corrected.

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