National strategy on suicide needed
Re The difficulties of preventing suicide, June 20 It is unfortunate that this article was one-sided and negative. It is true that predicting suicidal behaviour at the level of individuals is difficult, but the evidence that societies can take action to lower their overall rates of death by suicide is overwhelming.
One of the most outstanding suicide prevention success stories in the world is the province of Quebec, which reduced its overall suicide rate by a third in a decade after launching a multifaceted provincial suicide prevention strategy. The youth suicide rate fell more than 50 per cent.
The World Health Organization calls suicide a “largely preventable public health problem,” and notes that “for national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.”
All WHO member states, including Canada, have committed to reducing their suicide rates by 10 per cent by 2020, but Canada has made no progress towards meeting that commitment. Canada remains one of the few developed countries not to have a national strategy.
MP Charlie Angus recently launched a national campaign to garner support for his motion M-174, which calls for a National Suicide Preven- tion Action Plan. His initiative deserves the support of all Canadians.
I call on Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor to agree to the contents of Angus’s motion immediately. Why should Canada wait another day to take evidence-informed action? We can’t stop all suicides, but we can prevent many more than we are preventing today. Jack Hicks, adjunct professor of community health and epidemiology, University of Saskatoon