Asia should brace for an increase in suicides with the global financial crisis, a conference was told yesterday.
Of 849,000 suicides worldwide in 2006, about 65 per cent occurred in Asia, World Health Organisation regional director Shigeru Omi said.
Money problems played a more important role in Asia than in the United States. “I hope this current financial crisis will not result in further increases in suicides,” Dr Omi said.
Brian Mishara, president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, said many countries had seen decreasing numbers of suicides in recent years but the global meltdown could reverse that.
“Now the concern is what will happen [with the suicide rates]. It appears there will be a world economic crisis and we have seen an association between unemployment and suicide,” he said.
Professor Mishara, of the University of Quebec at Montreal, said increased suicide rates “are not inevitable” because countries could do more to prevent them and people needed to be made more aware of resources available.
They were speaking at the Asia Pacific regional conference of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Dr Omi said the highest suicide rates in Asia were in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
He said a major reason for the increase in suicides in the past decade compared with the previous decade had been a rapid increase in people suffering from mental health problems. This was brought about by rapid social change, highly competitive societies, and lack of connectedness with communities and families.
Paul Yip Siu-fai, of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, said Hong Kong’s suicide rate had dropped from 18.6 per 100,000 in 2003 to 13.5 per 100,000 last year.
He said he believed this was related to low unemployment rates.
“With what we have learned in the past decade, hopefully we are better prepared for the challenge ahead of us,” he said.
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Experts Fear Increase in Suicides
Mary Ann Benitez
1 November 2008
Asia should brace for an increase in suicides with the global financial crisis, a conference was told yesterday.
Of 849,000 suicides worldwide in 2006, about 65 per cent occurred in Asia, World Health Organisation regional director Shigeru Omi said.
Money problems played a more important role in Asia than in the United States. “I hope this current financial crisis will not result in further increases in suicides,” Dr Omi said.
Brian Mishara, president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, said many countries had seen decreasing numbers of suicides in recent years but the global meltdown could reverse that.
“Now the concern is what will happen [with the suicide rates]. It appears there will be a world economic crisis and we have seen an association between unemployment and suicide,” he said.
Professor Mishara, of the University of Quebec at Montreal, said increased suicide rates “are not inevitable” because countries could do more to prevent them and people needed to be made more aware of resources available.
They were speaking at the Asia Pacific regional conference of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Dr Omi said the highest suicide rates in Asia were in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
He said a major reason for the increase in suicides in the past decade compared with the previous decade had been a rapid increase in people suffering from mental health problems. This was brought about by rapid social change, highly competitive societies, and lack of connectedness with communities and families.
Paul Yip Siu-fai, of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, said Hong Kong’s suicide rate had dropped from 18.6 per 100,000 in 2003 to 13.5 per 100,000 last year.
He said he believed this was related to low unemployment rates.
“With what we have learned in the past decade, hopefully we are better prepared for the challenge ahead of us,” he said.
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