A MENTAL health campaigner says a sharp rise in suicide deaths in the North should be sending "alarm bells" across the NI Executive.
Latest figures in the Registrar General’s report show an 8.87 per cent increase in suicide deaths, from 203 in 2022 to 221 in 2023.
A total of 171 of those who died were male, while the rate of suicide in deprived communities was more than three times higher than the regional average.
The report published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) includes figures on overall number of deaths and a gender breakdown. A final report on suicide deaths in the North is planned for early 2025, with further analysis by age, geography, and administrative areas.
Sara Boyce, New Script for Mental Health organiser with the Participation and the Practice of Rights, has called for action to be taken immediately to address what she describes as an "unacceptable public health emergency" and has urged the Executive to make tackling the situation key in its draft Programme for Government.
"This is a very worrying rise from the previous year and going in the wrong direction, especially given that we have a suicide prevention strategy in place for the past five years," she explained. "These figures are deeply concerning and should be ringing alarm bells across the entire NI Executive.
"Instead of a reduction in what are preventable rather than inevitable deaths, we are seeing a sharp rise. We know that the impact on families of losing loved ones to suicide is devastating.
"These deaths also have a much wider societal impact, with an estimated 60,000 people affected each year. Time and time again, it is local communities and organisations who are the ones doing vital lifesaving work, with little or no resources or support.
"In early 2020, families bereaved by suicide, supported by over 300 high profile public figures and organisations, called on the Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer to treat suicide as a public health emergency and to show decisive leadership to turn it around. Sadly, those calls were ignored.
"As it stands, Protect Life 2, the Suicide Prevention Strategy, lacks ambition, resourcing, clear targets, measurable outcomes and evidence of its impact. The Department of Health must now bring a sense of urgency and priority to ensure we have a suicide prevention strategy that is fit for purpose.
"The Executive also needs to ensure that the Programme for Government includes a focus on suicide prevention, as well as on the drivers of suicide, such as poverty, inequality and discrimination.
"Suicide is preventable, but not without real commitment and action. People’s lives depend on it."
