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International Suicide Prevention Day….One death by suicide every 40 seconds – IASP
By Rabindra Rooplall
Nearly one million people worldwide die by suicide each year. This corresponds to one death by suicide every 40 seconds, according to the statistics.
International Suicide Prevention Day will be observed worldwide on September 10 and experts believe efforts at government level with the involvement of the community can help bring isolated souls back to normal life activities for prevention of suicide.
Experts say the suicide rate locally is approximately 20 per 100,000 population and it has been consistent for years. Suicide has also ranked seventh among the ten major causes of death in Guyana for years, averaging around 200 deaths annually.
According to International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), the number of lives lost each year through suicide exceeds the number of deaths due to homicide and war combined. A large proportion of people who die by suicide suffer from mental illness.
The organisation noted that recent estimates suggest that the disease burden caused by mental illnesses will account for 25 per cent of the total disease burden in the world in the next two decades, making it the most important category of ill-health (more important than cancer or heart diseases.)
Statistics further reveal that a significant number of those with mental illnesses who die by suicide do not contact health or social services near the time of their death. In many instances, there are insufficient services available to assist those in need at times of crisis.
Lack of access to appropriate care is one of the many factors that magnify the stigma associated with mental illness and with suicidal ideation and behaviour, and the IASP noted, this type of stigma, which is deeply rooted in most societies, can arise for different reasons.
One of the causes of stigma is a simple lack of knowledge. Experts say that this type of stigma can be directly addressed by providing a range of community-based educational programs that are targeted to specific subgroups within the society (that is, by age, educational level, religious affiliation, and so forth.)
It was noted that discrimination can prevent or discourage people affected by mental illnesses and/or suicidal ideation or behaviour from seeking professional help or from returning to their normal social roles after receiving treatment for an episode of illness or crisis.
Thus, IASP stated that one extreme example is the criminalization of suicidal behaviour, which still occurs in many countries.
“In both high-income and low- and middle-income countries stigmatized conditions such as mental illnesses and suicidal behaviour receive a much smaller proportion of health and welfare budgets than is appropriate, given their huge impact on the overall health of the community,” the IASP stated.
Unless stigma is confronted and challenged, the organisation noted that it will continue to be a major barrier to the treatment of mental illnesses and to the prevention of suicide.
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