The changing global face of suicide

Abstract

On the basis of WHO estimates for 2004, India and China account for 49% of global suicides, and all low-income and middle-income countries (LAMICs) combined account for 84% of all suicides. 1 WHOThe global burden of disease: 2004 update. World Health Organization, Geneva2008www.who.int/evidence/bod Google Scholar However, high-quality research on suicide in LAMICs is very restricted, so the Article in The Lancet by Vikram Patel and colleagues, 2 Patel V Ramasundarahettige C Vijayakumar L et al. for the Million Death Study CollaboratorsSuicide mortality in India: a nationally representative survey. Lancet. 2012; 379: 2343-2351 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (332) Google Scholar the first nationally representative study to estimate suicide rates in India, is an important contribution to available knowledge. The high estimated overall suicide rates in India of 18·6 per 100 000 boys and men (upper bound 15·7, lower bound 19·8) and 12·7 per 100 000 girls and women (10·7, 13·0), and the fact that suicide is the second most important cause of death in young adults aged 15–29 years, parallel findings from China 3 Phillips MR Li XY Zhang YP Suicide rates in China, 1995–99. Lancet. 2002; 359: 835-840 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (694) Google Scholar and confirm what has been suspected for decades—suicide is a major public health problem in LAMICs that has not received the attention it deserves. Their data suggest that India's National Crime Records Bureau underestimates suicides in men by at least 25% and suicides in women by at least 36%, showing that treating suicide as a criminal offence, as is done in India and many Islamic countries, can result in the frequent misclassification of suicide deaths and, thus, undermine prevention efforts. Suicide prevention: steps to be takenSuicide is a devastating event for individuals, families, and communities. People who experience such a loss, the wider public, and health professionals, often struggle to understand this complex behaviour, which remains taboo in many cultures. In today's Lancet, we publish a three-part Series to illuminate some of the issues around the causes of suicide, the treatments for suicidal ideation and self-harm, and importantly, the prevention of suicide. Full-Text PDF Suicide mortality in India: a nationally representative surveySuicide death rates in India are among the highest in the world. A large proportion of adult suicide deaths occur between the ages of 15 years and 29 years, especially in women. Public health interventions such as restrictions in access to pesticides might prevent many suicide deaths in India. Full-Text PDF