We must break the silence on suicide prevention in India
- Rising suicide cases in India make it imperative that we prioritise their prevention and frame them not as an issue of personal choice but a social matter addressable through collective action.
Suicide isn’t an easy subject to talk about. Pain, grief and stigma have contributed to the creation of a culture of silence, which makes it equally hard to work on addressing this public health concern. Therefore, it becomes all too easy to overlook this silent crisis that continues to rise in our country at an alarming rate. I speak not only as a philanthropist but as a concerned citizen who firmly believes that the time has come for India to prioritise suicide prevention while simultaneously addressing the critical issue of access to quality mental healthcare. The synergy between these two pillars of mental well-being is not just vital, it is a moral imperative.
In 2021, the National Crime Records Bureau reported over 160,000 deaths by suicide in the country—a number that has been on a sharp upward trajectory in the past decade. And for every death that takes place by suicide, there are about 60 people who are impacted due to the loss of a loved one, and more than 20 who attempt suicide. What’s even more concerning is that these figures likely underestimate the true extent of the problem due to underreporting and stigma. With suicide rates rapidly increasing and access to mental healthcare remaining elusive for many, there has never been a more pressing time to shift the focus to suicide prevention.
Even within the mental health space, especially among funders, suicide prevention does not get much attention. Every time I have tried to have conversations around it, I’ve met with either ignorance or indifference. This led me to see the potential in, and importance of, becoming a catalyst in the work on suicide prevention and driving policy-level change.
Taking the right first step: Understanding the problem is the first step toward solving it. At Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI), our first steps have been to undertake research and insight-building exercises, which in 2021 resulted in Suicide Prevention: Changing The Narrative—a report that focuses on what suicide prevention work should look like. This report has laid the foundation of our approach and projects on suicide prevention. It articulates the complexities of this work, and the various lenses that organisations need to develop before beginning.
Here, one of the most crucial factors to remember is that suicide is almost always seen as a personal choice rather than something that can be prevented. The conversation we see in the media is focused on individual deaths, either sensationalizing them by highlighting the methods or reducing them to a data point. Rarely is it framed as a social issue that needs to be addressed by the government, health systems, non-profits, workplaces, mental health professionals and the communities we live in. Further, it is crucial to recognise that certain communities face additional challenges due to their marginalised identities.
The philanthropic imperative: I believe that we possess the means to tackle this crisis head-on and are morally duty-bound to do so. A psychosocial approach to suicide prevention, i.e. interventions that include both providing psychological support through counselling and enabling access to social benefits like employment, health services and education, among other things, is the need of the hour.
A crucial step to achieve this, then, has to involve changes at the policy level. I have dedicated a considerable part of my philanthropic resources and efforts in opening channels of communication and establishing action-oriented conversation with policymakers at different levels. In 2021, MHI launched an advocacy kit and held a round-table discussion with members of Parliament across political parties to request them to push for a national suicide prevention policy by the health ministry. This initiative led to the release of India’s first National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS) in November 2022. The NSPS is a great win for activists, movements and civil society organisations that have been working for decades on suicide prevention, and advocating policy intervention. It is a powerful document envisioning “a society where people value their lives, and are supported when they are in need.” The strategy document also acknowledges that suicide is a complex issue and tackling it will require an inter-sectoral collaboration, and therefore, has articulated responsibilities and action items for other departments in the ministry of agriculture and farmer welfare, ministry of women and child development, and others.
MHI also worked with the Civil20 India team to include suicide prevention and mental health in C20 recommendations. Our efforts have resulted in both these issues being included in the C20 Policy Pack submitted to the G20 for the first time since its inception. This was followed by mental health being mentioned in the G20 declaration on health.
Conclusion: We are at a critical moment in time to address the complex crises of suicide and accessibility gaps in mental healthcare in India. Our collective goal should be to break the chain of stigma, and ensure that mental healthcare is made available as an essential right for every Indian. The communities strengthened will be a testament to our shared commitment to a more compassionate and resilient society.
We must seize this opportunity to be catalysts for change.
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First Published:19 Oct 2023, 07:28 PM IST
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