Citation

Rezaeian M, Khan MM. Crisis 2020; 41(Suppl 1): S72-S79.

Affiliation

International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), Washington DC, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/0227-5910/a000669

PMID

32208764

Abstract

The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) consists of 22 countries including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen. According to Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data, death from self-harm has increased by 100% between 1990 and 2015 in this region. Although this increase is substantial, it appears trivial in comparison to the 1027% increase in deaths due to war and legal interventions. This might partly explain why suicide prevention does not have a high priority in these countries and why there are currently no suicide prevention strategies in place. Despite the above, some important activities in the area of suicide prevention have been carried out in the region. And while peace and stability may take time to come to the region, it should not prevent suicide prevention programs from being developed and implemented.

Language: en

Keywords

Eastern Mediterranean region; prevention; suicide