On the occasion of the 12th National Suicide Prevention Days, held in February 2008, *La Santé de l'homme* spoke with Professor Michel Debout, president of the National Union for Suicide Prevention, professor of psychiatry and forensic medicine at the Saint-Étienne University Hospital, and founder of the event. This was an opportunity to take stock of developments in this public health issue, which claims more lives each year than traffic accidents and AIDS combined.