Union Health Ministry rolls out country’s first suicide prevention policy

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has announced a National Suicide Prevention Strategy, the first of its kind in the country to achieve a reduction in suicide mortality by 10% by 2030.

The National Suicide Prevention Strategy:

• The strategy is in line with the WHO’s South East-Asia Region Strategy for suicide prevention.
• Aim: The strategy broadly seeks to establish:
• Effective surveillance mechanisms for suicide within the next three years.
• To establish psychiatric outpatient departments that will provide suicide prevention services through the District Mental Health Programme in all districts within the next five years, and
• To integrate a mental well-being curriculum in all educational institutions within the next eight years.
• It envisages developing guidelines for responsible media reporting of suicides, and restricting access to means of suicide with time-bound action plans and multi-sectoral collaborations.
• The stress is on developing community resilience and societal support for suicide prevention.

Suicide rates in India:

• According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report 2021, the Suicide rate in India is increasing alarmingly.
• Delhi has recorded the highest number of (2,840) suicides.
• Reasons for Suicide:
  • 33.2%: Family Problems (other than marriage-related problems)
  • 4.8%: Marriage Related Problems
  • 18.6%: Illness
• Daily wage earners accounted for 42,004 (25.6 percent) of the total victims. One in four of the recorded 1, 64,033 suicide victims during 2021 was a daily wage earner.
• They were followed by self-employed people, unemployed people, and those involved in the farming sector were the top categories of people who died by suicide in 2021.
• The report certainly points out suicides as a critical public health issue in India and qualifies for a closer epidemiological assessment.
  
  

How is Suicide a Social Problem?

• The problem with only viewing suicide as an individual problem is that we neglect the importance of social forces contributing to suicide.
• Suicide is a serious social problem whose incidence varies between genders, age groups, geographical distribution, and the influence of the socio-political structure of society.
• The risk of suicide in a population increases when the social context fails to provide a healthy sense of purpose and belonging, contributing to an individual’s sense of contribution and connection.
• Furthermore, suicide should be viewed as a multidimensional public and mental health issue, having complex interactions with the economic, social, cultural, psychological, and biological realms of individual and collective existence.

What are the challenges?

• Under-reporting of such cases due to fear of social stigma and sometimes to rescue from judicial procedures.
• Fear of legal action:  Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) makes suicide a punishable offense. The fear of punitive action and added hassle of having to deal with police and courts often results in a refusal to seek help.
• Social stigma: The social stigma associated with suicide results in the NCRB grossly under-reporting the true numbers of suicide. 

Related Initiatives:

• Mental Healthcare Act, 2017:It aims to provide mental healthcare services for persons with mental illness.
• KIRAN: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched a 24/7 toll-free helpline to provide support to people facing anxiety, stress, depression, suicidal thoughts, and other mental health concerns.
• Manodarpan Initiative: It is an initiative of the Ministry of Education under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. It is aimed to provide psychosocial support to students, family members, and teachers for their mental health and well-being during the times of Covid-19.