SUICIDE rates in Singapore dropped to their lowest level in nine
years, to 8.76 per 100,000 residents, last year. The actual number
of suicides last year also fell - to 364, a five-year low.
The numbers are well below that of other Asian countries such as
South Korea (24 per 100,000), Japan (23.1 per 100,000) and Hong
Kong (18.6 per 100,000). Experts credit government policies and
closer interaction among various volunteer groups for keeping
numbers down.
Dr Chia Boon Hock, a psychiatrist in private practice who has
been studying suicide data for 40 years, said the attention paid by
the Government to issues of mental health, and policies that help
the needy and elderly, have helped bring the suicide rate down.
Efforts to keep people employed are another key factor, he said,
noting that unemployed people are much more likely to decide to end
their lives: Data from 2000 to 2004, for example, showed that
suicide rates among the jobless here were about 20 times higher
than among those who had work.
The work done by volunteer groups is another key factor, said Ms
Christine Wong, executive director of suicide prevention group
Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), which released the figures on
Tuesday.
Over the last two years, she said, SOS had been conducting
training sessions for the staff of various voluntary welfare
organisations, and this has resulted in better working ties with
these groups. 'They were more aware of our work and would refer
more cases to us,' she said.
The group is also working more closely with the police to
counsel the desperate, and is helping more people now. She said the
police referred 218 people who attempted suicide to SOS from April
2007 to March last year. In the 12 months following that, it saw
256 such cases, a 17 per cent increase.
Ms Wong said that support from grassroots groups, such as
financial aid given by the community development councils, also
helps provide vital relief for people struggling to cope with money
woes.
Going forward, SOS said it would work with more companies and
recruit more volunteers to continue raising awareness of its
suicide prevention efforts.
Dr Chia, however, warned that although the suicide rate fell
last year, the economic downturn, which bit Singapore hard towards
the end of last year and early this year, may lead more people to
decide to end their lives.
--ST