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Experts stress need for suicide-prevention focus

The sharp increase in suicides and suicide attempts in recent years has triggered widespread concern.

In preparation for the opening of a national suicide-prevention center, social workers and psychiatric experts gathered yesterday to discuss strategies.

According to statistics provided at the seminar, the number of suicides nationwide has been steadily rising since 1993, from 6.4 suicides per 100,000 people to 14.16 per100,000 people. Suicide is now the ninth largest cause of death in the nation.

The statistics show that while 3,000 or so people succeed in committing suicide every year -- another 30,000 try.

Cheng Tai-an (鄭泰安), a professor at National Taiwan University's College of Public Health, said a nationwide suicide-prevention center has been in the works since 2003 but the details have to be finalized.

"Prevention of suicide should be the top priority of public health services in Taiwan, and strategies should be settled as soon as possible," Cheng said.

Making reference to his expertise in suicide-preventative strategies used in Europe and the US, Cheng said the strategies used in Finland and England would be very valuable, since those places have about about the same population as Taiwan.

One important factor is the government's restrictions on substances that are often used in suicide bids, Cheng said, which would include pesticides and charcoal.

Cheng stressed the importance of improving the quality of mental-health care, citing research that showed 80 to 100 percent of people who have committed suicide suffered from a mental illness, particularly chronic depression.

"In Finland there are 1,000 psychiatric health-care workers for every 5 million people. In comparison, there are about the same number [of health-care workers] for Taiwan's entire population," Cheng said.

Other participants noted that each country has its own problems and resources.

"The effectiveness of suicide-prevention strategies depends a lot on each place, as each country has different resources and different needs," said Lee Ming-been (李明賓), president of the Taiwan Association against Depression.

Lee said decreasing the number of suicides should not be taken as an isolated goal but that experts in public health, mental health and psycho-social health should work together to address the issue.

"Suicide is not an isolated problem. It is an unfortunate end product of a process of psychiatric treatment," Lee said.

Lee said medical expertise should not be taken out of the equation when considering what suicide-prevention strategies should be offered, because mental illnesses can be very complicated.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that by 2020 suicide will be the ninth most likely cause of death worldwide. It has ranked suicide second among the top 10 "acute diseases and injuries."

Also see story:
Suicide is not painless

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