Union Health Ministry Rolls Out Country’s First Suicide Prevention Policy

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The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has announced a National Suicide Prevention Strategy.
It is structured on the lines of the World Health Organization’s guidelines for Suicide Prevention in the South East Asian region

In India, suicide has exceeded deaths due to road traffic accidents and maternal mortality among those aged 15-29 years,
India’s contribution to global suicides increased from 25.3% in 1990 to 36.6% in 2016 among women, and from 18.7% to 24.3% among men.
More than one lakh lives are lost every year to suicide in India.
In the past three years, the suicide rate has increased from 10.2 to 11.3 per 1,00,000 population.

The most common reasons for suicide include family problems and illnesses which account for 34% and 18% of all suicide-related deaths in India respectively.
Other common reasons include marital conflicts, love affairs, bankruptcy or indebtedness, substance use and dependence.
It is also to be noted that in approximately 10% of the suicides, the cause is not documented.

The strategy includes an action framework for key stakeholders, providing a path forward for preventing suicides.
This will provide guidance to every stakeholder for setting targets, implementing, monitoring and taking corrective actions, to attain the aim of the strategy.
The country’s first National Suicide Prevention Strategy has been developed with an aim to synthesise stakeholder efforts with the motto of ‘energise to synergise’.

The overall vision of the document is to create a society, where people value their lives and are supported when they are in need.
It aims at reducing suicide mortality by 10% in the country by 2030.
The strategy also aims at developing community resilience and societal support for suicide prevention and reducing suicide behavior.

Ministries/institutions involved
- Ministries involved in implementing the strategy are Agriculture, Home Affairs, Information and Broadcasting, Social Justice and Empowerment, Education, Labour, Women and Child Development, Information Technology, Youth Affairs and Sports.
- The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) will also play an anchoring role, offering support to the implementation.
Reducing easy access to means of suicide
- The strategy is focused at reducing easy access to means of suicide, for instance, pesticides.
Time-bound action plan and data collection
- A time-bound action plan has also been laid out by the government.
- It has offered commitments:
  - To establish effective surveillance mechanisms for suicide prevention in the next three years,
  - To establish psychiatric OPD that provide suicide prevention services, through the district mental health plan in all the districts within the next five years, and
  - To integrate mental well-being curriculum in all educational institutes within the next eight years.
- It focuses on strengthening data collection on suicide and attempts to suicide.
Stigma reduction
- Reducing stigma is one of the huge components, as it is seen as a hurdle in the process of seeking counseling and treatment options.
- It tends to leverage the media in order to spread awareness and de-stigmatize mental health, and promote responsible media reporting of suicide.