National and international implications of Suicide .

Instructions: Write a paper of 500-1,000 words that describes the national and international implications of suicide. Include the following:

  1. Scope and depth of the problem.
  2. Countries that are faring better or worse than others.
  3. How the United States ranks on this issue in relation to other countries.
  4. Efforts of the World Health Organization and other agencies on this issue.
  5. Existing disparities (include race, age, and gender, as appropriate) in relation to the issue: Describe the populations that have emerged as being disadvantaged and why.

Use a minimum of 3 articles and attach all articles used in preparing the assignment. Prepare this assignment in the APA Style. An abstract, introduction, and conclusion are not required.You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin

Solution.

National and international implications of suicide Assignment help.

Scope and depth

Suicide has escalated into one of the leading causes of death globally. In fact, among persons aged between 15 years and 29 years, suicide has become the second leading cause of death. More than 800, 000 people are reported to die of suicide annually and more is the number who are reported to attempt suicide but escape with related injuries (Phillips & Cheng, 2012). There are various risk factors associated with this problem, but a previous attempt has been deemed the most critical risk factor across the ages. Most of the suicide cases globally (75%) take place in middle and low income countries (Phillips & Cheng, 2012). The most common methods of suicide across the world stand out to be handing, ingestion of pesticides, and the use of firearms. In most cases, suicide is note reported, especially in cases where the person escapes with injuries, as it is considered illegal in some of the countries. Suicide is associated with mental disorders and hence has been noted as an issue of global importance by the World Health Organization, one that requires all stakeholders to play their role in ensuring that the rates of suicide are lowered.

Countries that are faring better or worse than others

Comparing the rates of suicide in different countries across the globe is a major challenge considering the difficulties in obtaining the actual data due to underreporting of incidences of suicide. Social and religious pressures have impeded any efforts to obtain the actual figures of suicide across the globe. Nevertheless, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) ranking of suicide across different countries, it is clear that the rate of suicide is higher in low and middle income nations, with low figures registered in developed nations (Phillips & Cheng, 2012). According to the 2012 WHO ratings, it was estimated that 75 percent of global suicides take place in such developing countries (Phillips & Cheng, 2012). This could be attributed to the various challenges that citizens from such countries face, including unemployment, poverty, and increased rates of disease, coupled by poor healthcare services. Case in point, according to the data provided by the WHO in 2012, Guyana ranked as the country with the highest cases of suicides, recording 42.2 suicides per 100,000 people per year (Phillips & Cheng, 2012). This was followed by other low and middle-income countries such as Sri-Lanka, Lithuania, Suriname, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Nepal, among others. However, the prevalence of suicide in high-income countries cannot go unnoticed with countries such as South Korea, a member of the G-20 strong economies ranking second with 28.9 suicides per 100,000 persons per year, according to the 2012 WHO rankings (Phillips & Cheng, 2012).

The United States’ ranking on suicide in relation to other countries

The United States recorded an average of 12.1 suicides per 100,000 persons every year according to the 2012 WHO ratings, a figure that later escalated to 12.6 suicides per 100,000 persons each year in 2013 (Värnik, 2012). This placed the US 50th alongside Uruguay in the 2012 WHO rankings, which is a high rate for a developed country. Suicide has been rankled as the tenth in terms of the leadings causes of death in America. More suicides are reported in the US each year as compared to homicides, with over 38,000 people dying in 2010 by suicide (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2014). In the same year, the United Kingdom only registered 5,608 deaths by suicide (BBC News, 2013). With the US as the leading global economy, it is a clear indication that there are other predisposing factors that contribute to suicide in the country as opposed to economic factors as observed in the low and middle-income countries. 

Efforts of the World Health Organization and other agencies on suicide

Various initiatives have been promoted at the global, national, and institutional levels towards the reduction of the cases of suicide. In 2013, the World Health Assembly, during their Sixty-sixth sitting, embraced the first ever WHO Mental Health Action Plan, which ranked suicide prevention as one of the most important goals of the plan. The goal of the initiative is to facilitate a 10 percent reduction in the rate of suicide in different countries across the globe by 2020 (WHO, 2014). There has also been an increase in the amount and quality of knowledge concerning suicidal behavior with research showing the significance of the interplay between psychological, biological, environmental, cultural, and social factors in determining the occurrence of suicide among individuals (Isaac, Elias, Katz, Belik, & Deane, 2009). This has been important in facilitating early detection of suicidal behaviors and promotion of interventions such as rehabilitation and counselling. Epidemiology has also been helpful in determining the protective and risk factors for suicide among vulnerable groups and the general population. With reference to policy, more than 28 countries have established suicide prevention strategies at the national level (Phillips & Cheng, 2012). The International Association for Suicide Prevention also organizes the World Suicide Prevention Day every 10th September each year, with countries across the globe observing this day and using it to educate the public on suicide and to address the underlying causes.

Existing disparities

In terms of age group differences, suicide has been ranked as second among the leading causes of deaths for persons aged between 15 and 24 and those between 25 and 34 (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2014). Nevertheless, the rate of suicide is highest among persons aged between 45 and 54 (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2014). As much as the rate of attempted suicides is lower among older adults aged 65 and above, the rate of death by suicide is higher among this population as compared to any other age group. As such, for every four attempts, there is one death by suicide. In terms of gender, men are more predisposed to death by suicide as compared to women, with 78.8 percent of all suicides in the US involving men (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2014). Nevertheless, women attempt suicide more than men do. In terms of ethnicity and race, Non-Hispanic Whites and American Alaskan/Indian Natives register the highest rates of suicide in America while Asian-Pacific Islanders register the lowest suicide rates (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2014). However, on a general scale, individuals with a history of mental disorders and those who have had previous suicidal attempts are more vulnerable as compared to other populations.

References

BBC News. (2013, January 22). UK suicide rate rises ‘significantly’ in 2011. Retrieved from BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-21141815

Isaac, M., Elias, B., Katz, L. Y., Belik, S.-L., & Deane, F. P. (2009). Gatekeeper Training as a Preventative Intervention for Suicide: A Systematic Review. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 54(4), 260-268.

Phillips, M. R., & Cheng, H. G. (2012). The changing global face of suicide. The Lancet, 379(9834), 2318–2319.

Suicide Prevention Resource Center. (2014). Suicide Prevention Basics: Scope of the problem. Retrieved from Suicide Prevention Resource Center: http://www.sprc.org/basics/scope-problem

Värnik, P. (2012). Suicide in the World. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9(3), 760-771.

WHO. (2014). Preventing suicide: a global imperative. Sixty-Sixth World Health Assembly. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

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