Suicide burden and prevention in Nepal: the need for a national strategy

ABSTRACT

Suicide is a major cause of deaths worldwide and is a key public health concern in Nepal. Althoughroutine national data are not collected in Nepal, the available evidence suggests that suicide ratesare relatively high, notably for women. In addition, civil conflict and the 2015 earthquake have hadsignificant contributory effects. A range of factors both facilitate suicide attempts and hinder thoseaffected from seeking help, such as the ready availability of toxic pesticides and the widespread,although erroneous, belief that suicide is illegal. Various interventions have been undertaken atdifferent levels in prevention and rehabilitation but a specific long-term national strategy for suicideprevention is lacking. Hence, to address this significant public health problem, a multisectoral platformof stakeholders needs to be established under government leadership, to design and implementinnovative and country-contextualized policies and programmes. A bottom-up approach, with activeand participatory community engagement from the start of the policy- and strategy-formulation stage,through to the design and implementation of interventions, could potentially build grass-roots publicownership, reduce stigma and ensure a scaleable and sustainable response.