India's National Suicide Prevention Strategy

Globally, ~800 000 people DIE BY SUICIDE per year.

This is 1 person every 40 seconds.

For each suicide, there are >20 suicide attempts.

India reports the highest number of suicide deaths in the world.

Suicide is an emerging & serious public health issue in India.

BUT it is preventable with timely, evidence-based, and often, low-cost interventions.

2016: Suicide mortality rate per 100 000 population was 16.5, while the global average was 10.5 per 100 000.

Most vulnerable: 15-29-year-olds, elderly & persons with special needs.

Only 30% of student suicides are due to failure in exams.

According to the Lancet Psychiatry’s recently published paper on India's National Suicide Prevention Strategy,

-> Suicide rate among Indian girls and women is still 2X global rate.

-> 15 - 39 years age group: Suicide accounts for more deaths than other causes of death.

-> Hanging is the most common method of suicide, followed by pesticides poisoning, medicine overdose & self-immolation.

-> Depression, alcohol use, and other disorders + several social & cultural factors are risk factors of suicide.

-> Major barriers to effective suicide prevention: Absence of a national suicide prevention strategy, inappropriate media reporting, legal conflicts in the interpretation of suicide being punishable, inadequate multisectoral engagement.

-> A scaffolding approach is needed to reduce suicide rates, as interventions provided at the right time, intensity & duration can help navigate situations in which a person might be susceptible to & at risk of suicide.

-> There should be a task force constituted for suicide prevention research to create a road map.

-> There should be more robust, relevant & real-time data on suicides & attempted suicides.

-> There should be a reconciliation of the various contradictions on the “attempt to suicide” clause in the law.

-> Need to launch a program in mission mode, a strategy that has served multiple nationwide health interventions in the country.