|
Abstract
|
Suicide is a global public health issue accounting for 1.4 % of total deaths worldwide (World Health Organization, 2016). The South East Asia region, comprising 11 low- and middle-income countries, is a suicide dense region of the world with the highest regional suicide rate of 17.7 per 1000 (Vijayakumar et al., 2020). Latest data from India's National Crime Records Bureau indicate that 140,000 people died by suicide in 2019 (National Crime Records Bureau, 2019). Further, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an alarming spurt in suicides in South East Asia region prompting calls for global attention (WHO South-East Asia Regional Office, 2020). It is of interest that suicides related to COVID-19 have been a reporting focus for this journal (Rajkumar, 2020; Tandon, 2020).
Responsible media reporting is one of the few successful population level prevention strategies for suicide. Balanced and sensitive media reporting can educate the public about suicide and reduce the likelihood of imitative suicidal behaviour, also called the Werther effect (Hawton and Williams, 2002; Menon et al., 2018). It is estimated that responsible media reporting of suicide can reduce national suicide deaths by more than 1% annually (Christensen et al., 2016); for a country like India, this may mean prevention of nearly 1400 deaths every year.
This understanding has led to the formulation of international media reporting guidelines for suicidal behaviour (World Health Organization, 2017). However, uptake of these guidelines has been varied and an accumulating body of evidence from South East Asia, including India, (Arafat et al., 2020a, 2020b) have consistently reported sub-optimal adherence to suicide reporting guidelines. Given the unrelenting pressure on media professionals to create commercially viable content, it is impractical to expect substantial compliance with suicide reporting guidelines, particularly in the absence of co-ordinated efforts at engagement, monitoring, and support for media professionals.
It is against this background that we propose the formation of an independent National Media Monitoring Agency for India and, possibly, other countries in the South East Asia region. This agency may comprise of various stakeholders including media professionals from across the hierarchy, such as editors and crime reporters, as well as public health experts, health professionals, citizen volunteers and suicide attempt survivors. It would...
Language: en |