The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned yesterday that the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the risk factors associated with suicidal behaviors and calls for its prevention to be prioritized.
As part of World Suicide Prevention Day, which takes place on September 10 each year, he noted that various studies have shown that the pandemic has amplified the risk factors associated with suicide, such as the loss of employment or economic, trauma or abuse, mental disorders and barriers to accessing health care.
One year after the start of the pandemic, about 50% of people who took part in a World Economic Forum survey in Chile, Brazil, Peru and Canada said their mental health had worsened. .
“Suicide is an urgent public health problem and its prevention must be a national priority,” said Renato Oliveira i Souza, head of PAHO’s Mental Health Unit.
He urged the development of comprehensive strategies that improve suicide prevention and care. With one in a hundred deaths, suicide remains one of the leading causes of death in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
He cited that more people die each year from suicide than from HIV, malaria, breast cancer, wars and homicides.