Proposal for “Global Health Policy Framework” designed to mitigate suicide

This work starts with the premise that suicide (S) rates are at the increase. The “suicide is the single greatest cause of violent death around the globe” (1). The common factor in S. seems to be an unbearable suffering. The suicidal person is sad, lonely, disaffected, hopeless and helpless, feels that life is futile, and S. becomes the only solution to abolish the suffering. S., thus, becomes an escape. Severe alcohol-related life impairment, alcohol dependence, is observed at some time during their lives in about 10%of men and 3-5% of women (2). The scientific literature confirms that individuals with alcoholism have higher risk for attempted and completed S. compared to persons without alcoholism; thus, S. is a cause of death for substantial percentage of individuals with alcoholism (3). Alcohol abuse or dependence is a worldwide flagellum, because it leads to disruptions in interpersonal relationships, employment, financial, and legal difficulties, car accidents, and other stressful events that may increase risk of S. behaviour (4). The data collected by Bilban and Skibin, 2004 show that a number of S. victims had alcohol problems. In order to better understand the problem of S, we present a global view of the S. phenomenon in the world, by focusing on the geographical differences using “thematic mapping”. To highlight the predictors of S -particularly the factor alcoholism in relation with S.-, we investigate the association between alcohol consumption and S. rates in the world, and to put a glance on the future prospective. The identification of risk factors for suicidal behaviour requires a public health priority. Our findings show that alcohol abuse substantially influences S. rates. Nevertheless  many different factors –such as age, gender, psychiatric and medical disorders, unemployment, divorce, social isolation, widowhood, past history of attempt S.- determinate S. rates in a certain country.