PHA-Exchange> UN AGENCY SEEKS TO CURB "HUGE BUT LARGELY PREVENTABLE" PROBLEM OF SUICIDE

[Claudio]

From: "Vern Weitzel" <vern.weitzel at undp.org>
UN AGENCY SEEKS TO CURB “HUGE BUT LARGELY PREVENTABLE” PROBLEM OF SUICIDE
New York, Sep  8 2004 10:00AM
With nearly 1 million people dying from suicide every year, more than from
all homicides and wars
combined, the United Nations health agency today called for concerted global
action to curb what it
termed “a huge but largely preventable public health problem.”

“Suicide is a tragic global public health problem,” World Health
Organization (WHO)
Assistant-Director General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health.
Catherine Le Galès-Camus
said ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day being marked on Friday. “There is
an urgent need for
coordinated and intensified global action to prevent this needless toll."

The agency has produced a series of guidelines for different audiences that
have a critical role in
suicide prevention, including health workers, teachers, prison officers,
media professionals and
survivors of suicide. It stressed early identification and  treatment of
mental disorders as an
important preventive strategy.

The Director of WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse,
Benedetto Saraceno,
underlined the role played by the media, citing evidence that coverage can
encourage imitation
suicides and urging sensitivity in reporting on “these tragic and frequently
avoidable deaths.”

"The media can also play a major role in reducing stigma and discrimination
associated with suicidal
behaviours and mental disorders," he added.

Suicidal behaviour has a large number of complex underlying causes,
including poverty, unemployment,
loss of loved ones, arguments, breakdown in relationships and legal or
work-related problems.

The most common methods are pesticides, firearms and medication, such as
painkillers, according to
WHO, which emphasized that availability of these means plays an important
role in the phenomenon.
“Having access to the means of suicide is both an important risk factor and
determinant of suicide,"
said Professor Lars Mehlum, President of International Association for
Suicide Prevention, a
non-governmental organization collaborating with WHO on the issue.

One recent breakthrough was the move by many pharmaceutical companies to
market painkillers in
blister packs rather than more easily accessible bottles, which had a
significant impact on their
use as a suicide method, the agency said. Currently attention is focused on
encouraging a reduction
in access to pesticides, including safer storage and proper dilutions.