Our Global Health Campaign

Adolescent Suicide Prevention in India

Here is a link to our Gofundme page where you can donate to our campaign:

https://www.gofundme.com/adolescent-suicide-prevention-india

We have joined forces with child psychiatrist Dr. Ram Attur to bring upon a campaign that will implement awareness programs and a buddy group system to support students through exam time. They will be given a training package to prepare to handle difficult high pressure exam times. It will also allow schools in Mysore to nominate staff to be trained in suicide risk prevention. We all know there are some teachers willing to do more. After testing there will be a follow up in 6 months with said mentors in order to discuss the pros and cons of the campaign we are launching.

Step 1. A training package for preparing a Buddy/ Mentor for teachers about preparing them to hear and support kids going through rough time during exams preparation.

Step 2. Inviting schools in mysore to nominate teaching staff who can be trained ( 1 per primary middle secondary)

Step 3. Follow up in 6 months with the trained mentors to see utilisation and difficulties.

Suicide and mental health in india is widely overlooked by the public and does not receive enough attention as it should. Children, teens and adults who are entering college, are in highschool face high pressures during school and exam times. Students pressured by the difficulties of school can have a decreasing impact to the community. If certain tests are failed they begin to lose any hope that they will advance in life. Parents choose difficult careers for them and they fall under pressure and depression if those exams are not passed. The students feel helpless and lose all hope in life. With an escalated rate of suicide in India itself due to exam time it affects the future progress of the country with a debilitating rate in professional careers. Student suicides have increased in India from 5.5% of all cases in 2010 to 6.2% in 2013 (Ponnudurai, 2015).

Suicide prevention education and training programs are needed in India, as India is labeled the “Suicide capital of Southeast Asia in 2012, based on a report by the World Health Organization (Ponnudurai, 2015). The suicide rate has increased from 7.8 in 1967 to 11.0 in 2013 (Ponnudurai, 2015). There are many suicides occurring in India, with a shift recently in the predominance of the number of suicides from the elderly to the young people all over the world. It has been noticeable in India, with India having the world’s largest youth population of 356 million. There was also a report by the Indian government in 1999 which showed that more than 65% of all suicides are committed by persons between the ages of 15 to 24 years old.

Training teachers to be more aware of their students mental health during exam times can be an important way to stop anything serious from happening. Education is the primary source to be able to reduce any risks. The more knowledge a person has on a certain aspect they become open to gaining more on said topic. They begin to research more, they begin to educate others surrounding them. People in India see mental health as something that should not be spoken about and should only be handled in the home between the family. It is not something people see as acceptable to discuss with others, however these discussions are important in order help suicide risk prevention.

References

Ponnudurai, R. (2015). Suicide in India – changing trends and challenges ahead. Indian Journal

of Psychiatry, 57(4), 348. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.171835

Vijaykumar, L. (2007). Suicide and its prevention: The urgent need in India. Indian Journal of

Psychiatry, 49(2), 81. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.33252