Mind problem: Recreating efforts to eradicate polio to prevent suicide

Contrary to common belief, talking about suicide does not encourage suicide as long as parents, teachers, medical fraternity, and mental health professionals have guidelines for talking about prevention. (Photo: Getty Images / Sinkstock; Design: Gargishin)

India’s commendable success in eradicating polio is a valuable example of its efforts and achievements after we have decided.

Focusing on it is the biggest hurdle.

The World Health Assembly passed the World Polio Eradication Bill in 1988, and India committed to that resolution. National Vaccination Day (NID), commonly known as the Pulse Polio Vaccination Program, began in India in 1995 and the last case in Indian soil was reported on January 13, 2011.

Until the 1990s, the polio epidemic in India was severe, with an average of 500-1,000 children paralyzed daily.

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Government initiatives, active counseling, funding, campaigns, thousands of volunteers, hundreds of NGOs, researchers, doctors, nurses, the media and citizens have come together to build a better future for children. ..

Can this be achieved for mental health awareness, stigma elimination, and suicide prevention?

India ranks first in the countries with the highest suicide rates.

At least 1,39,133 people died from suicide last year, according to data from the National Crime Records Agency (NCRB) on “Suicide in India” in 2019.

Is it possible, then, to recreate the success achieved in polio eradication in another similarly debilitating illness or event?

I do not compare suicidal ideation or acting on it with viral illness. I compare the impact of intent, effort and energy that a country like us can produce if it chooses. I compare the lifelong paralysis caused by the virus to the emotional paralysis that leaves someone ending their life, incapacitating their loved ones, and leaving them influential.

India’s rank in the Human Development Index Report 2018 (130th out of 189 countries) published by UNDP represents the level of ignorance for the healthcare sector in countries like us.

Skeptics say India’s polio is due to low hygiene and hygiene standards in India, costly eradication, a large uneducated rural population, and other technical and socio-political reasons. Declared that it could not be eradicated. There were delays and frustrations, but this didn’t stop us.

We must prepare our children for mental health in the way they need to teach them about gender, drugs and crime so that they can develop better coping mechanisms. (Photo: Getty Images / Sinkstock)

On February 25, 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) removed India from the list of “polio endemic” countries.

Active campaigns, booth volunteering, extensive search for WPV among children with illnesses that resemble polio, donations to research, vaccination, and actually having children under the age of five We will keep together and maintain extraordinary efforts in all aspects, such as taking out families. From the villages of Mumbai, Delhi, Patna and Kolkata to the booths, and for years of eager search for sewage, it’s always worth the inspiration as well as thanks.

Suicide prevention is a difficult struggle, which is why I have listed the various struggles and hurdles that India has defeated for the polio campaign. The list is not exhaustive, but it is comparable. We recognize that there are urgent health problems such as malnutrition, infant mortality, AIDS and tuberculosis. cancer And heart disease, and these need attention. These are understood and recognized as illnesses and require care, empathy and support. Despite being the leading cause of death in the world, suicide remains the least understood, stigmatized and mysterious act.

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We need governments, committees that make up rigorous campaigns, funding, central organizations that mandate mental health practices, the use of treatments, workshops, media and educational institutions, awareness of risk factors, and treatment. , A note to this from follow-up. Research and support to initiate monumental ambitions. Of course, the key is our commitment as a citizen.

The best way to prevent suicide is to talk about it. We need to overcome the fear of S-word. The maximum number of suicides is between the ages of 15 and 29, and most parents are afraid to talk about this. We must prepare our children for mental health in the way they need to teach them about gender, drugs and crime so that they can develop better coping mechanisms. We need to be able to correct things, learn together, grow and heal by having a growth mindset, and convey confidence that hope must not be lost. If we pour our hearts, actions and money into it, efforts will prevent people from ending their lives and that families will experience the devastating emotional tenderness and fragility that follows the aftermath of suicide. I’m sure it can be prevented.

Contrary to common belief, talking about suicide does not encourage suicide as long as parents, teachers, medical fraternity, and mental health professionals have guidelines for talking about prevention. Polio Prevention and Pulse A campaign to recreate polio size, dynamism, and rigor, training for early recognition of indications and timely intervention, open educational conversation, treatment options, and muscle for pain tolerance. School and college curriculum, including construction, repetitive, loud, clear, gentle, but affirmative, disappointment and challenge are universal, they are even necessary, they can be pivoted to benefits, Each life is important, every life adds value, and lowering suicide rates is not.

(The author is a Mumbai-based psychologist and psychotherapist)

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