Session 2: "Progress report - Quadripartite collaboration" during the 1st Quadripartite Executive Annual Meeting on 27 March 2023 at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Advocating for national suicide prevention strategies
WHO advocates for countries to take action to prevent suicide, ideally through a comprehensive national suicide prevention strategy. A government-led comprehensive national strategy is a powerful tool which helps to ensure that the government and other stakeholders are committed to preventing suicide in a country, that there is coordination and monitoring of their efforts, that suicide prevention is placed high on the political agenda, and that resources are allocated to make it possible to implement the necessary actions. WHO has published a resource on National suicide prevention strategies with examples and indicators to inspire governments and policy-makers to establish their own strategy, and LIVE LIFE to implement effective evidence-based interventions. Further guidance on the processes involved in developing national suicide prevention strategies can be found in WHO’s Public health action for the prevention of suicide, which highlights the collective responsibility of suicide prevention and identifies the critical elements for a strategy and framework.
National suicide prevention strategy documents from countries can be accessed on the WHO MiNDbank.
Where suicide and suicide attempts remain illegal, decriminalization represents one critical step governments can take in their efforts to prevent suicide.
The absence of a comprehensive national suicide prevention strategy should not stop countries from implementing interventions for suicide prevention. In many countries that have no strategy, a wide range of stakeholders are engaged in suicide prevention activities – from organizing survivors’ support groups to awareness-raising and advocacy for at-risk populations. WHO recognizes the role that both governments and communities play in implementing actions for suicide prevention.
Communities can incorporate and enhance efforts undertaken at the national level by considering their local community needs, priorities and circumstances. Variations in the suicide rates within countries (e.g. by geographical region) suggest that top-down suicide prevention should go hand-in-hand with local bottom-up processes. The WHO toolkit for engaging communities in suicide prevention aims to assist with identifying suicide prevention priorities and directing appropriate community activities towards the whole community, specific groups and/or individuals. A corresponding e-learning course for the toolkit, which is available in English and French, provides guidance for establishing supportive networks to assist communities in suicide prevention activities or in enhancing activities that may already be in place. Each section provides advice on how to move forward with community engagement and suggests tools that can be used to further the process of building a suicide prevention action plan that is relevant to the community.
Whereas advocacy aims to bring about changes, such as a national suicide prevention strategy or decriminalization of suicide, awareness-raising draws people’s attention to facts such as suicide is a serious public health issue. Both can range from events in a single community to a nationwide organized process of communication that targets a public audience and can be continuous, regular or annual (such as World Suicide Prevention Day or World Mental Health Day), with “champions” leading public campaigns. It is important to have a clear focus and a call to action and to decide the message to be communicated, adapt it to the target audience, select the means of communication and test the acceptability and potential impact of the message beforehand. Awareness raising can create an environment for suicide prevention and is a foundation for suicide prevention in LIVE LIFE but should be accompanied by the implementation of evidence-based interventions.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa has developed the Speak Up 4 Life campaign to promote awareness and increase action on suicide prevention. The WHO Regional Office Region for the Americas has a suicide prevention campaign for World Suicide Prevention Day. The WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia published a regional strategy on preventing suicide.
In the context of humanitarian crises and emergencies, countries may need to focus on immediate and feasible priorities for suicide prevention. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) has produced Guidance Addressing Suicide in Humanitarian Settings. In addition, the mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide can help support the mental health of adults and children affected by emergencies.
