Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: With over 170,000 lives lost annually due to suicide in India, it is imperative to focus beyond mental health to prevent suicide cases in the country, said an expert in a new study published in The Lancet journal on World Suicide Prevention Day, on September 10.
Suicide is a major public health challenge, with more than 700,000 deaths each year globally. India has one of the highest number of suicide deaths.
World Suicide Prevention Day is observed every year on September 10 to raise awareness about the importance of reducing stigma and encourage open conversations to prevent suicides. The theme this year is “Changing the narrative on suicide”. In line with the theme, a new six paper Series published in The Lancet Public Health, argues that a change in the narrative is needed to move from presenting suicide as a purely mental health issue to acknowledging the impact of social risk factors.
“Suicide so far, unfortunately, has been stigmatised as a crime, but suicide is actually a complex public health issue. Focus to date has been on mental health for suicide prevention, which is important, but we have enough data now to show that we need to broaden our focus beyond mental health for suicide prevention,” Series author Dr Rakhi Dandona, Professor of Public Health at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), said.
The Lancet Series highlights how clinical treatment services are critical for people in a suicidal crisis, but upstream measures that address social factors must also be included in national suicide prevention strategies to prevent people from reaching crisis points.
This is particularly relevant for India, which released the National Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2022, with the experts in suicide prevention highlighting the need for the country to widen the way suicide is viewed to also include social risk factors — such as poverty, debt, domestic violence, addictions, and social isolation — alongside mental health.
