As the sun rose slowly over the harbour in Apia  lighting up the town, three-year-old Benji Folasa led the annual Walk for Life on Saturday morning.

As the name suggests, the walk is an annual event to raise awareness and support for the prevention of suicide in Samoa.

According to recent statistics by the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) published in 2020, Samoa has a suicide rate of 14.60 deaths per 100,000 people. Samoa is ranked 30th in terms of the prevalence of suicide. The report also noted an increase in suicides among the male population in Samoa.

Walk for Life event coordinator and President of the Logopuialii Samoa Youth Organisation (LSYO), Nah Folasa said the concept behind the walk is to make people realise that healthy minds need healthy bodies.

"The Walk for Life encourages healthy bodies, healthy minds and to ease the pain of stress which may lead to depression and some people to contemplate suicide," said Mr. Folasa.

The walk started at the Town Clock in Apia at 6am and proceeded along Beach Road, the waterfront before finishing off at Mulinuu. It was an event where Mr. Nah had extended the invite to his family and friends in the hopes of creating more awareness behind the initiative.

"Participants had the choice of whether to run, walk, cycle or take whatever means possible to reach the finish line. Even shopping trolleys were! This is an all inclusive family event," he said.

He also shared that this event was not a fundraiser and was open for everyone to come on down to have fun and enjoy life as it is while going for a walk.

The walk was led by Mr Folasa's, Benji and this was a happy time for him on personal note as he celebrated 27th birthday. For Mr Folasa, this was a celebration of life and advocacy suicide in Samoa.

A study done by Fa’ataua Le Ola, a suicide prevention advocacy non-governmental organisation, showed youth aged between 12 and 35 were most at risk and an average number of suicides a year is 20.

The common cause of suicide in Samoa is relationships: it has been the common cause over the past four to five years – married couples, young teens, parents versus children, – biggest factor was lack of communication between people, the study noted.