The World Suicide Day falls on September 10. As per the World Health Organisation, an estimated 703000 people die by suicide every year. The recent data from National Crime Records Bureau or NCRB recorded the highest levels of suicides in the country. Last year 1.64 lakh persons died by suicide- an increase of 7.2 percent from 2020. This is the first time in suicide rates in India has hit 12 per 100000 population since NCRB started collecitng data on suicides in 1967.

Suno India’s Menaka Rao spoke to Dr Lakshmi Vijaykumar and Dr Soumitra Pathare. Dr Lakshmi is a psychiatrist renowned for her work on suicide prevention. She is a member of the WHO’s International Network for Suicide Research and Prevention. Dr Soumitra is a psychiatrist and director of Centre for Mental Health, Law and Policy. He has helped the government in drafting the Mental health Care Act 2017, which takes a rights based approach to mental health.

References

https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-suicide-prevention-day/2022
Deaths by suicide highest ever in India in 2021, domestic problems biggest reason, shows NCRB data
Suicide numbers during the first 9-15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with pre-existing trends: An interrupted time series analysis in 33 countries
Suicide and suicide risk
The Sources of Parent-Child Transmission of Risk for Suicide Attempt and Deaths by Suicide in Swedish National Samples | American Journal of Psychiatry

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