The Ministry of Health of the Canary Islands Government presented this Friday the new Suicide Prevention Program, included in the Mental Health Plan of the Canary Islands 2019-2023, which has a specific line dedicated to suicide prevention, which is the leading cause of non-natural death in Spain.
In addition, the archipelago is above the national average and has the third highest rate in Spain, only behind Asturias and Galicia and tied with La Rioja. Specifically, according to the latest official data from the National Institute of Statistics and the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics, 197 people committed suicide in the Canary Islands in 2019. This represented a rate of 9.15 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in Spain it was 7.81.
During the press conference, they also recalled that the Canary Islands Health Survey of 2015 reflected that suicidal ideation prevailed in 10.8% of the population of the archipelago, while in Spain as a whole it was 4.4%. "It must be taken into account that the data on suicide attempts in the Canary Islands do not yet have sufficient reliability, something that this program aims to solve," they emphasize from the Ministry.
Regarding the previous technical work they have already carried out, they point out that there have been variations in the last decade, although "a progressive upward trend has been detected, especially in the capital islands". This has also been warned by the Red Cross, which on the occasion of the World Day for Suicide Prevention has warned of the increase in people with suicidal tendencies who have been approaching the NGO since the end of 2020, coinciding with the pandemic.
Regarding the most common profile in the archipelago, the Government points out that suicides are more frequent in men than in women, with a difference of 3.6 to 1, and that the age group of over 79 years was the one with the highest suicide rate in 2019, with 19 per 100,000 inhabitants (almost nine points more than the regional average).
"A particularly complex health problem"
The program presented by the Ministry includes "updated scientific knowledge, recommendations for the development of actions, guidelines for temporal implementation and prioritization, and an expansion of its scope in certain areas." "It is conceived as a guide document where the actions to be carried out to achieve the objective of minimizing suicidal risk in the Canary Islands, the resources necessary to carry out these actions and the evaluation of the same are compiled," they explain in a statement.
Among other things, it includes preventive actions to mitigate the likely negative effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, as well as specific actions aimed at the child and youth population, and information systems are expanded.
The Director General of Public Health, Juan José Alemán, has remarked that the prevention and approach to suicidal behavior is "a particularly complex health problem, hence the importance of having this type of tool." In this line, he indicated that suicide is preventable and scientific knowledge and previous experiences converge in that the multisectoral approach and the development of actions at multiple levels have been effective for prevention, so the collaboration and coordination of different institutions is necessary to face this important social and health problem.
Likewise, he pointed out that the current pandemic situation has been "a challenge for the population, due to its marked impact, which has reached all sectors of society." "This significant negative impact implies, a priori, a greater risk of developing mental disorders and suicidal behaviors, therefore coordinated preventive efforts are essential to minimize risks," they point out from the Ministry.
Specific objectives
The program has seven specific objectives and each of them with a series of concrete actions that will be implemented depending on the technical prioritization. The general objective is to reduce the suicide rate, suicide attempts, self-harm, suicidal gestures and suicidal ideation in the Canary Islands, through actions at multiple levels and intersectoral.
These seven objectives are to have complete and reliable registration systems and epidemiological reports on suicidal behavior in the Canary Islands, improve intra- and inter-institutional coordination for the development of preventive actions, carry out preventive actions in the population, train and stabilize key non-health professional groups, improve the training of health professionals on suicidal behavior, improve clinical action in specific situations of risk and complexity, and mitigate the likely negative effect of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the suicidal behavior of the population.
Campaign 'Canarias apuesta por la VIDA'
The presentation of the Suicide Prevention Program in the Canary Islands has been timed to coincide with the World Suicide Prevention Day 2021, which is celebrated this September 10.
Also coinciding with this day, the new SCS campaign for suicide prevention has been presented, developed under the slogan 'Canarias apuesta por la VIDA' (Canary Islands bets on LIFE), aimed at people who suffer from suicidal thoughts to seek help among their family, friends and reference health professionals.
The campaign has two spots, one for young people and one for adults, which will be disseminated mainly on social networks. It urges people to talk about suicide both in the family and in the social and health environment and to ask for help and advice.
From the Ministry they explain that there are some measures that can be adopted among the population, population groups and individuals, to prevent suicide and attempts to commit it. These measures include "restricting access to the means of suicide (for example, pesticides, firearms and certain medications); responsible information from the media; school interventions; introduction of policies aimed at reducing harmful alcohol consumption; early identification, treatment and care of people with mental health problems and substance abuse, chronic pain and acute emotional distress; training of non-specialized health personnel in the evaluation and management of suicidal behaviors; monitoring of care provided to people who attempted suicide and the provision of community support".
