Today, April 7, is World Health Day 2017.

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World Health Day takes place once a year and it is a time that the World Health Organization uses to shine light on certain medical conditions. This year’s focus is on depression.

Here are a few things to know about depression for World Health Day 2017.

• Depression is a common mental disorder with more than 300 million people experiencing it.
• It can target anyone and shows up in people no matter what age they are.
• Women are more likely to fall victim to depression than men.
• Depression is also more likely to target people who have gone through major life events with negative effects.
• This can include unemployment, bereavement, psychological trauma and other adverse events.
• Those who suffer from severe depression may commit suicide.
• Roughly 800,000 people commit suicide every year.
• Suicide is the second-largest cause of death for people between the ages of 15 to 29.
• There are two major types of depression: recurrent depressive disorder and bipolar affective disorder.
• Recurrent depressive disorder can result in long bouts of depression that last for at least two weeks.
• Bipolar affective disorder has a person going through short periods of depression with normal moods in between.
• Depression is ranked by three levels: mild, moderate, or severe.
• A person with mild depression can continue to function, but may be more limited in what they can handle.
• Someone that is going through severe depression will be mostly unable to continue with work or social activities.
• There are treatments for depression, but they aren’t used often due to the difficulty in diagnosing the mental disorder.

You can follow this link to learn more about depression and why it is the subject of World Health Day 2017.