Suicide 'can be prevented', says WHO
Updated
Worldwide, nearly a million people a year commit suicide, surpassing the combined death toll from murder and war. The World Health Organisation is keen to reduce the number of suicides, and emphasises that it is a preventable death. But in many countries, admitting an attempt at suicide is taboo, and few people seek help. Some governments treat suicide as a crime, while in others there's a shortage of health facilities and funding. But a new WHO study has identified cheap, effective means of helping people at risk of suicide, even in places with minimal resources.
Presenter: Bo Hill
Speakers: Dr Lakshmi Vujayakumar, head of Psychiatry, Voluntary Health Services, Chennai and founder, Sneha Suicide Prevention Centre; Dr Michael Phillips, executive director, WHO Coordinating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention
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HILL: In just 20 years, India's suicide rate has increased more than 40 per cent. An estimated 110,000 Indians kill themselves each year. The majority are aged under 30, and many of them are women. But attempted suicide is a crime in India and the statistics are based on poor research. Dr Lakshmi Vujayakumar is a consultant psychiatrist and founder of Sneha suicide prevention organisation in Chennai, India. She says she welcomed the opportunity to be a part of a WHO study into suicide to try to overcome the information gap.
VUJAYAKUMAR: The suicide prevention, or rather the intervention research in India has been very negligible. There has been studies on suicide by those which have directly intervened in people who have attempted suicide are very scanty and this was the first of its kind in India.
HILL: The study, over three years, was conducted in several different countries including India, China, Brazil and Sri Lanka. It looked at the effectiveness of interventions for post-suicide attempts. While one group was cared for using normal procedures in respective emergency departments, another group was given 18 months of follow-up checks.
VUJAYAKUMAR: We had two psychologists that used to visit the people. They just visited the house, just spent a few minutes asking how they are, how they feel about it and if there's anything they require.
HILL: Providing that ongoing contact, the WHO report says, can significantly reduce mortality due to suicide. Dr Vujayakumar says despite the covert character of her work in a country where suicide is a crime, the results will play an important role in shaping prevention and intervention programs. Dr Michael Phillips, executive director of the WHO Coordinating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention in Beijing, says the studies findings are significant for developing countries like India and China.
PHILLIPS: Clearly this study showed that relatively low intensity interventions may be effective. It appears that you don't need extremely highly-trained professionals, who you simply don't have available in those areas and so we don't have to wait until the mental health system evolves to this fantastic level and start worrying about suicide prevention - we can do it right now and quite likely we can do it effectively right now.
HILL: Michael Phillips says the small size of his research group didn't provide conclusive evidence, but the findings were significant enough to prompt a much wider study. A disproportionate number of successful suicides remains young rural women in China. And after 20 years of working there, Dr Phillips says this ongoing social intervention, which appeals to the Chinese philosophy of community, could save many lives. But, he says, suicide prevention is a big battle.
PHILLIPS: It's very hard to predict suicide because it's such a rare event, and I think the better strategy is to change attitudes so people who are clearly distressed will seek help if help is available."
