800,000 people commit su!cide annually – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says no fewer than 800,000 people commit suic!de annually, the second leading cause of death among people between the ages of 15 and 29, in 2016.

WHO made this known on Monday in a statement to commemorate the World Suic!de Prevention Day.

The global health agency said the common methods of suic!de were hanging and firearms occurring in all countries and regions, whether rich or poor.

It added, however, that most occurred in low and middle-income countries, which accounted almost four-fifths of global suicides in 2016.

“In high-income countries, there is a well-established link between suicide and mental health issues such as depression and alcohol use disorders.

“But many su!cides take place on an impulse during moments of crisis,” it said.

The UN health agencies estimated that a person died every 40 seconds by su!cide and up to 25 times as many make a suicide attempt.

To help communities to prevent suicides, WHO and the Mental Health Commission of Canada released a toolkit.

The toolkit outlined ways to prevent this serious public health problem, one of which is knowledge of the most commonly used methods, and restrictions of access to these methods.

Other examples included policies to limit alcohol and drug abuse, effective mental health care, and follow-up care for attempted su!cide cases.

It estimated that the method used for 20 per cent of global su!cides was pesticide self-poisoning, most of which occurred in rural agricultural areas in low- and middle-income countries.

WHO explained that as well as the health sector, many sectors of society needed to be involved in preventing su!cide, including education, labour, agriculture and the media.

“These actors all need to work together if they are to have an impact on this complex issue.

“People commit su!cide at all times of their lives, and each one is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries, and leaves behind long-lasting effects.”

In many countries, suic!de remained a taboo subject, WHO said adding that this could prevent those who had attempted su!cide from getting the help they needed.

To date, only a few countries had included suic!de prevention among their health priorities and only 38 countries have a national su!cide prevention strategy, WHO said.

World Su!cide Prevention Day is an awareness day observed on Sept. 10 every year to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent su!cides with various activities around the world since 2003.

www.sojworld.com (c) September 10, 2018.