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Australia's suicide rates could be reduced by 30 pct with European approach: researchers

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia could reduce its suicide rate by 30 percent with a European approach, Australian researchers said on Friday.

The National Coalition for Suicide Prevention is calling on the Australian states and territories to fund a Nationwide pilot program that simultaneously tests eight suicide prevention strategies.

Black Dog Institute director Prof. Helen Christensen said on Friday that when similar strategies were simultaneously implemented at a community level in Europe, suicide rates fell 30 percent.

"If we can pull together all community and health organizations to deliver evidence-based strategies at the same time, in the same location, then we have a good chance of reducing (suicide) rates in Australia by as much as 30 to 50 percent, within four to five years," Christensen told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ( ABC).

"Suicide rates haven't changed in the last 10 years in Australia, and just doing what we have always done is not really going to make any difference to those rates."

"It has been a scattergun approach and funding has been distributed in a non-organized way. Initiatives are very fragmented and some are run by the government and others by NGOs ( non-government organizations)."

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2,522 people died by suicide in Australia in 2013.

Christensen said suicide had a high burden on the Australian economy.

"Suicide costs the country something like $17 billion (13 billion U.S. dollars) and yet we only invest about $250 million ( 193 million U.S. dollars) over two years in suicide prevention activities," he said.

"Part of the problem is that nobody takes responsibility for it and it is almost like it is (perceived) as an individual thing, yet government should take responsibility for the health and well- being of its citizens.

"There is a lot of opportunity for government to take responsibility for suicide prevention rather than regarding it as something that happens to individuals and their families."

The inaugural National Suicide Prevention Summit will be held in Canberra in August. Endi