The Canary Islands Health Service promotes an intersectoral commission for suicide prevention

This is one of the strategic lines that emanates from the Prevention Program launched in March 2021 with the aim of tackling the leading cause of non-natural death in Spain.

December 24 2022 (07:46 WET)
Hospital Doctor José Molina Orosa
Hospital Doctor José Molina Orosa

The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands is working on the creation of an intersectoral commission for the prevention of suicidal behavior in the Canary Islands. The objective is to address this public health problem, with multifactorial implications, as a priority not only for the SCS but for the rest of the institutions and for society in general. It is about promoting a collaboration network in this matter that reaches multiple areas with the involvement of the Ministries of Health, Education, Social Rights, Economy and Employment, Public Administrations and Justice, Finance, the FECAM and the FECAI, as well as the security forces, among others.

This is one of the strategic lines that emanates from the Prevention Program launched in March 2021 with the aim of tackling the leading cause of non-natural death in Spain. Likewise, the prevention and action protocol for suicidal risk in schools is already under review, which the General Directorate of Assistance Programs has been working on jointly with the Ministry of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands for its implementation in 2023.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, in 2021 suicide remained the leading cause of external death, with 4,003 deaths in Spain, of which 230 were registered in the Canary Islands, which represents a rate of 10.58 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants, remaining as the third autonomous community with the highest rate, behind Asturias and Galicia as has happened in recent years, both with rates of 12.8 and 12.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. By age groups, the most affected are those concentrated between 40 and 69 years old with 147 suicides, followed by those over 70, with 37 cases. Although all cases are worrying, the two suicides registered in minors under 15 years of age and the 37 aged between 15 and 29 years of age are particularly noteworthy.

The Canary Islands Health Service is working on the different strategic lines contemplated in the Suicide Prevention Program, an essential strategic document in the development of evaluable preventive actions, with planned resources and a timeline of objectives based on scientific knowledge that also contemplates the intersectoral approach.

 

Preventive tools

The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Mental Health Services of the General Directorate of Assistance Programs and the Health Promotion Service of the General Directorate of Public Health, develops preventive actions in various areas. These include the training of professionals from different fields, such as Primary Care, Mental Health or Drug Addiction.

Likewise, a consultation tool has been developed for evaluation and intervention in Primary Care. In addition, work has been carried out as a Suicide Observatory in the Canary Islands, through the creation of information systems; formulas for collecting data on suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and suicide in the Canary Islands. Regarding the clinical field, the Canary Islands Health Service has professionals who can address suicidal behavior, both in Primary Care Centers and in specialized resources of the Mental Health Network.

 

Intersectoral perspective

Considering the important public health problem that suicide represents, the great impact, its complexity and the need to articulate various actions with an intersectoral perspective, the Mental Health Plan of the Canary Islands 2019-2023 is the planning framework in Mental Health currently in force, with a specific Strategic Line dedicated to the "Prevention and treatment of suicidal behavior", which establishes the objectives and actions necessary in this area.

The Suicide Prevention Program in the Canary Islands is the technical development of the objectives and actions contained in the Mental Health Plan of the Canary Islands, based on the provisions of the Strategic Line, but expanding its scope in multiple areas. For example, the differentiation of specific actions aimed at the child and youth population is included and information systems are expanded. For each of the actions, the available scientific knowledge, the recommendations for its development, the responsible parties, and indicators for its evaluation are specified. For its part, prioritization and the timeline provide the strategic and temporal framework for the development of the actions.

 

Specific objectives

The suicide prevention program has seven specific objectives to reduce the suicide rate, attempts, gestures, self-harm, and suicidal ideation, and each of them has a series of specific actions that are being implemented based on technical prioritization.

The specific objectives are the following: To have complete and reliable registration systems, and epidemiological reports on suicidal behavior in the Canary Islands, to improve intra- and inter-institutional coordination for the development of preventive actions aimed at the population and actions for people with suicidal risk or suicidal behaviors, to carry out preventive actions in the population on suicidal behavior, to train and stabilize key non-health professional groups, to improve the training of health professionals on suicidal behavior, to improve clinical action in specific situations of risk and complexity, to mitigate the probable negative effect of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the suicidal behavior of the population.

 

Suicides are preventable. Helpline 024

There are some measures that can be adopted among the population, population groups and individuals, to prevent suicide and suicide attempts. These measures include: use of the suicide behavior helpline, the 024 launched this year by the Ministry of Health, restriction of access to suicide methods (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; follow-up of the care provided to people who attempted suicide and the provision of community support.

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