A Public Health Problem

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020 set as one of its overall goals to reduce suicide death rates by 10% in all countries. A commitment of governments around the world to take on a complex, multi-factorial problem with their leadership, that has no single, easy-to-implement response and needs a significant budget allocation. 

On paper, the need for a national suicide prevention plan seems indisputable. The WHO highlighted the reasons why governments should have a strategic plan and that they should be shared by public administrations working in this area: 

• A national strategy that not only describes the scope and magnitude of the problem but, more importantly, recognizes that suicidal behavior is a major public health problem
• A strategy indicating a government's commitment to addressing the problem
• A cohesive strategy recommends a structural framework that incorporates various aspects of suicide prevention
• A strategy provides authoritative guidelines on key evidence-based suicide prevention activities, identifying what works and what does not
• A strategy identifies key stakeholders and assigns them specific responsibilities. In addition, it describes the necessary coordination between these various groups
• A strategy identifies crucial gaps in existing legislation, service delivery, and data collection
• A strategy indicates the human and financial resources needed for the investors
• A strategy shapes media promotion, awareness, and communications
• A strategy proposes a strong monitoring and evaluation framework, which instills a sense of responsibility among intervention managers
• A strategy provides context for a research agenda on suicidal behaviors

On the ground, experiences over the years have been especially diverse and irregular, with plans designed but not implemented or with concrete actions that, while very positive, they do not have the capacity to bring about an effective change in the numbers of suciide deaths. Investing in suicide prevention programs translates, as with all mental health issues, into investigating in human resources, providing the system with different professionals who can implement these programs and this is where a lot of the programs fail.

The WHO published a follow-up report on progress, examples and indicators on strategies in different countries around the world in 2018 as a sample of the wide range of proposals. 

Examples of prevention plans and actions at the local level

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