Plans in motion for national suicide prevention scheme

Plans are being set in motion to create a national suicide prevention scheme the health ministry said on Wednesday as records show a spike in suicides during the 2013 financial crisis, when they were six times higher than almost a decade before.

Data shows that between 2004 and 2020, a total of 560 people in Cyprus took their own life, the majority being men (452), compared to 108 women.

These figures were included in a letter submitted to parliament on December 15 by Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantela in answer to a question by Greens MP Charalambos Theopemptou.

The House health committee is also working to help establish a national suicide prevention scheme, based within the national health scheme (Gesy).

Director of Mental Health Anna Paradisioti said that they are currently working on having the suicide attempts by patients registered in their Gesy profile for personal doctors to be able to see, to alert relevant authorities and doctors to help prevent further attempts and in this way mitigate the numbers.

Also, she added that if a patient on Gesy informs a GP of suicidal thoughts or an attempt, then the doctor will send an alarm to other health professionals through the Gesy system to alert them of the problem.

Paradisioti said that similar practices occur in other countries, and that they are very successful.

According to the report, the issue is still taboo in Cypriot society, which affects the numbers reported, and giving a skewed image of the numbers prior to 2004, when minimal suicides were recorded.

In 2004, when the health ministry’s monitoring unit started recording the causes of death, a more significant number and problem was revealed.

Since 2013, the number of recorded suicides remains between 30 to over 40, with the highest being the year of the crisis (45) and then the second highest being the following year with 44 recorded suicides.

The numbers provided by the ministry show that the age group with the highest rate of suicide is 20-24, followed by 40 to 44 year olds.

However, the numbers do not reflect the cause of suicide, which means it might not be related to crisis.

Paradisioti told daily Politis that there are several factors that need to be considered that drive people to suicide, including previous attempts, psychological issues, the age and environment the person lives in, if the person is facing a chronic illness, and whether the individual has access to items that would lead to a suicide attempt.

Globally, women attempt suicide more than men, but higher deaths from suicide are recorded by men because they choose more violent methods.

Commenting on the prevention methods in Cyprus, Paradisioti said that they are not enough, as there are no homes or areas to host people that attempt suicide following treatment at Athalassa hospital.

She said that there are intermediary measures, which includes nurses that visit people’s homes and perform social activities with the patients.

In 2020, Eurostat figures showed that Cyprus had the lowest suicide rate in the EU.

The number of suicides for 2017, the latest figures available, was four in 100,000 inhabitants in Cyprus, five for both Malta and Greece and six in Italy.

Cyprus was also way below the EU average of almost 11 suicides per 100,000 persons.