Suicide an emerging public health problem: evidence from rural Haryana, India

Analysis of annual mortality data for year 2002-2009 of twenty eight villages in Ballabgarh block of rural Haryana was carried out to calculate suicide rates per 100,000 population. In addition, informal discussions were carried out amongst health providers to understand their perceptions regarding suicides. In a period of 8 years, out of total 4552 deaths, 163 (3.5%) deaths were attributed to suicides giving a suicide rate of 24.4/100,000 population (95% CI 24.1- 24.7). Mean years of productive life lost for males and females were estimated to be 44.4 (SD 1.1) years and 39.9 (SD 1.4) years respectively. Poisoning (41.1%) was the most common mode of suicide followed by hanging (36.8%) and burns (14.7%). Health workers also perceived suicide as major problem in the community and marital conflict was identified as major cause for suicides. There is need to address the complex issue of suicide by public- health approach at the community level.