On Wednesday 20 July 2016, Luxembourg’s Minister of Health, Lydia Mutsch, and the Center for Information and Prevention of the Luxembourg League for Mental Hygiene (CIP-LLHM) announced details of the traveling exhibition "A| Normal", an awareness exhibition on mental disorders.

The exhibition is part of the National Suicide Prevention Plan Luxembourg (PNPSL) which identified 33 priority actions for the years 2015-2019, developed with local stakeholders and approved by the Interdepartmental Group on suicide prevention.

"The government has been working on the subject since 2006. It is a policy priority and a major challenge in public health", said Minister Lydia Mutsch.

In Luxembourg, it is estimated that there are 81 (probable) cases of suicide for the year 2015. In 2014 this number was 85. The scale of the problem is even more serious given that the attempted suicide rate is 10 to 20 times higher than completed suicides.

"This truly is breaking a taboo, and talking about it in schools, because younger people are also affected by this issue. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among young people between 25 and 29 years of age," the minister said.

With a suicide rate at the age of 8.7 per 100,000 citizens in year 2012, the Grand Duchy is below the European average. The average number of suicides across the 28 EU Member States increased to 61,929 in year 2012, which corresponds to an average suicide mortality rate of 12 per 100,000 citizens.

Suicide is the result of complex interactions between various risk factors and protection. However, every suicide is preventable and means to significantly reduce the number of deaths by suicide do exist.

Among the priorities of the PNPSL is prevention in the broadest sense, focusing on at-risk populations, both young people and older people. This is to be achieved through further decentralisation of support structures, specific training and therapeutic management.

Everyone has an important role to play in suicide prevention, starting with health facilities, schools, and also the world of business and the wider community," said Dr. D'Fränz Onghia from the CIP. "It is by working together that we can save lives."

It is in this spirit that the exhibition "A | Normal" was conceived and developed. It focuses on the development and provision of promotion of mental health programmes in businesses and other meeting places, with essential information about the possibilities of help and assistance in order to fight against the stigma of mental illness.

The exhibition takes the form of 20 panels, and visitors are invited to ask multiple questions about mental health. In addition, visitors will receive a wide range of responses through experiences and reflections on the themes of fear and anxiety, addiction, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.

Alongside this initiative concerning the mental health awareness exhibition, 14 other actions have already been implemented or are under development. Among those are:

1. The development of measures to promote knowledge of the problems of stigmatised groups and improving referral to support services, particularly for people at risk of discrimination / stigmatisation due to: sexual orientation and gender identity; emotional / psychiatric disorders; workplace (burnout, sexual harassment, bullying, etc.); deprivation of liberty (prisoners); a migratory path, etc..;The

promotion of shared vigilance (like job hazards) attached to mental illness in the workplace, in order to empower all employees;

2. The development and improvement of information and awareness related to addiction, including the effects of new drugs;

3. The creation and promotion of mental health days in collaboration with municipalities in order to inform the public about mental illness;

4. Information and awareness raising of public attention on mental health issues, specifically: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); mood disorders; chronic stress and harassment; anxiety disorders; suicidal crisis, etc.

To objectify the impact of the national suicide prevention strategy and optimise the efficiency of successive actions, an external evaluation of the entire action plan is to be made. A re-evaluation of the National Suicide Prevention Plan of 2015-2019 is also planned.

The exhibition, currently installed at the Department of Health, can still be visited until 29 July 2016.