New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) With over 170,000 people dying each year in India due to suicide, preventing suicide cases in the country requires focus beyond mental health, said an expert in a new study published in The Lancet Journal on World Suicide Prevention Day on Tuesday.
Suicide is a major public health challenge. It causes more than 7,00,000 deaths worldwide every year. India has the highest number of deaths due to suicide.
World Suicide Prevention Day is observed every year on September 10 to raise awareness about the importance of reducing suicide and encouraging open conversations on the subject. This year’s theme is “Changing the Narrative on Suicide”.
Dr Rakhi Dandona, Professor of Public Health at Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), told IANS, “Unfortunately, suicide has been stigmatised as a crime till now, but suicide is actually a complex public health issue. So far the focus for suicide prevention has been on mental health, but to prevent suicide, we need to look beyond mental health.”
He said that social causes should also be included in national suicide prevention strategies. This is especially important for India, which released the National Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2022. In this, experts considered mental health as well as poverty, debt, domestic violence and social isolation as responsible for suicide.
According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 1.71 lakh people died by suicide in India in 2022. The suicide rate rose to 12.4 per 1,00,000, the highest ever.
More than 40 percent of suicide victims are young people under the age of 30. Every eight minutes a young Indian commits suicide.
–IANS
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