The Country's First Suicide Prevention Policy

• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently announced the "National Suicide Prevention Strategy."
• It is the country's first of its kind, with time-bound action plans and cross-sector collaborations aimed at reducing suicide mortality by 10% by 2030.
• The strategy is consistent with the World Health Organization's South East Asia Region Suicide Prevention Strategy. The Country's First Suicide Prevention Policy

More information on the policy

• The newly launched National Suicide Prevention Strategy is the country's first of its kind.
• The suicide prevention policy includes time-bound action plans and cross-sector collaborations to reduce suicide mortality by 10% by 2030.
• The strategy aims to establish effective suicide surveillance mechanisms within three years, psychiatric outpatient departments that will provide suicide prevention services through the District Mental Health Programme in all districts within five years, and
• Within the next eight years, all educational institutions will have a mental health curriculum.
• The policy calls for the development of guidelines for responsible media reporting of suicides, as well as the restriction of access to means of suicide.
• Support from the community and society:
• The emphasis is on strengthening community resilience and societal support for suicide prevention.
• In line with global strategy, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.4 aims to reduce premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by one-third through prevention and treatment, while also promoting mental health and well-being.
• The suicide rate is one indicator of this.
• While the strategy is consistent with the WHO's South East Asia Region Suicide Prevention Strategy, it promises to remain true to India's cultural and social milieu.

More on Suicide

What is suicide?

• Suicide occurs when people intentionally harm themselves in order to end their lives and die as a result.
• Suicide claims more than one lakh lives in India each year, and it is the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 29.
• Suicide rates increased from 10.2 to 11.3 per 100,000 people between 2019 and 22.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently published the report "Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India Report 2021." It provides the following records by category:

Daily Wager:

• Daily wage earners continued to be the most common profession among suicide victims in 2021, accounting for 42,004 suicides (25.6%).
• For the first time, the proportion of daily wagers dying by suicide has surpassed a quarter.
• The number of suicides in the United States increased by 7.17% between 2020 and 2021.
• During this time, however, the number of suicides in the daily wage group increased by 11.52%.

Farming Sector:

• In 2021, the overall share of "Persons engaged in the farming sector" among total recorded suicides was 6.6%.

Distribution by Profession:

• "self-employed persons" had the highest increase of 16.73%.
• The only group that saw a decrease in suicides was "unemployed persons," with the number falling by 12.38% from 15,652 in 2020 to 13,714 in 2021.

Suicide Motivations:

• Family Issues: 33.2% (other than marriage-related problems)
• Marriage-Related Issues: 4.8%
• Illness: 18.6%
• State: In terms of the number of suicides reported in 2021, Maharashtra led the country, followed by Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

Brief Interventions in Treatments and Therapies

• Safety Planning: It has been shown that personalized safety planning can help reduce suicidal thoughts and actions.
• Follow-up phone calls: Studies have shown that at-risk patients who receive additional screening, a Safety Plan intervention, and a series of supportive phone calls have a lower risk of suicide.

Psychotherapies:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): It can assist people in learning new ways to cope with stressful situations.
• When suicidal thoughts arise, CBT assists individuals in recognizing their thought patterns and considering alternative actions.
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): DBT has been shown to reduce suicidal behavior in adolescents.

Initiatives of the Government of India

• 1982: National Mental Health Programme (NMHP):
• To ensure the availability and accessibility of basic mental health care for all in the near future, with a focus on the most vulnerable and underserved segments of the population.
• The Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 decriminalizes suicide attempts.
• It was passed in 2017, went into effect in May 2018, and replaced the 1987 Mental Health Act.
• To the delight of most Indian medical practitioners and mental health advocates, the act decriminalised suicide attempts in India.
• It also followed WHO guidelines for categorising mental illnesses.
• The most important provision in the act was "advanced directives," which allowed people with mental illnesses to choose their own treatment and appoint someone to be their representative.
• It also restricted and prohibited the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on minors, finally introducing measures to combat stigma in Indian society.
• Manodarpan Initiative: It is part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
• Its goal is to provide students with psychosocial support for their mental health and well-being.
• Kiran Helpline: The helpline is a huge step forward in suicide prevention and can provide support and crisis management.
• The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) will manage the helpline, which will provide early screening, first-aid, psychological support, distress management, mental well-being, and psychological crisis management.

Problems:

Focus is not up to par:

• According to a recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, 1.64 lakh people committed suicide in 2021
• This is 10% more than COVID deaths in India in 2020, and 6.8 times more than maternal deaths (23800) in 2020.
• Despite this, we have placed far more emphasis and effort on COVID protocols and maternal health than on suicide prevention.

Collaboration is required:

• Suicide is a complex issue that will necessitate cross-sector collaboration to address.
• According to the 2021 NCRB data, family issues (33.2%), unemployment/indebtedness/career problems (7.7%), and health concerns (18.6%) are some of the major causes.
• To work on prevention, we need the collaboration of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the MoHFW, among others.

The following are the requirements for effective implementation:

• The strategy should now be passed on to the states, who should develop locally relevant action plans before cascading to the district, primary health care, and community levels.
• As a public health priority, more efforts are now needed to prevent suicides.
• Suicide affects all segments of society, necessitating concerted and collaborative efforts from individuals and the community at large.