LIVE LIFE Initiative for Suicide Prevention

Each year, more than 700 000 people end their own life – each death a tragedy, with far-reaching impact on families, friends and communities. Much can be done to prevent suicide at the individual, community and national levels. LIVE LIFE is a WHO initiative to support countries to advance political will, national strategic action, and serve as a catalyst for governments to take evidence-based action to prevent suicide. By implementing LIVE LIFE evidence-based interventions for suicide prevention and underlying cross-cutting pillars, many lives could be saved.

The LIVE LIFE implementation guide, developed as part of this initiative, provides technical guidance for the delivery of four key effective and evidence-based multisectoral interventions and six cross-cutting foundational pillars for suicide prevention.

The WHO LIVE LIFE interventions are:

Limiting access to the means of suicide

Interacting with media for responsible reporting of suicide

Fostering socio-emotional life-skills in young people

Early identification and support to everyone affected by suicide and self-harm

The implementation of these interventions is supported by the following cross-cutting pillars:

  • situation analysis
  • multisectoral collaboration
  • awareness raising and advocacy
  • capacity building
  • financing
  • surveillance, monitoring and evaluation
The LIVE LIFE interventions can be integrated into health, community and other settings, and function as a starting point to build a multi-level, multi-sectoral approach to suicide prevention.

 

Publications

Country success stories

In Cambodia, the Ministry of Health convened more than 230 participants from all 25 provinces and municipalities to conduct a situation analysis and develop the country’s first multisectoral action plan for suicide prevention—one of the largest government-led suicide prevention workshops in the world. The plan has been drafted and is now moving towards implementation. As part of the plan, WHO guidance on the responsible reporting of suicide in the media has been translated and adapted, with a training programme currently in development. In addition, multisectoral collaboration on suicide surveillance is underway, marking the first time that the health sector will work with the national police to share suicide data and take coordinated action.

In Ghana, the recent decriminalization of suicide attempts has laid the foundation for a supportive environment for people experiencing distress and for implementation of suicide prevention interventions and activities. A national situation analysis is being carried out to inform strategic action on suicide prevention. Media guidelines alongside training for responsible reporting of suicide are underway and programmes fostering socio-emotional skills among young people in school settings are being designed for roll-out in priority districts.

In Suriname, a newly established national taskforce conducted the country’s first suicide situation analysis and national multi-stakeholder workshop facilitating intersectoral collaboration for suicide prevention. Following recommendations from the situation analysis, national media guidelines on responsible reporting of suicide and a monitoring toolkit have been developed. Training has been delivered to media professionals including journalists, editors, bloggers, and civil society organizations. The toolkit and training have since been adopted by other media houses and internal training conducted. Primary health care providers have been trained for early identification, management and follow-up care of those affected. In addition, a registry for self-harm is currently being trialled with hospitals, primary health care, and police to support integration of data systems and enhancement of surveillance.

In Thailand, the Department of Mental Health at the Ministry of Public Health implemented WHO’s LIVE LIFE interventions nationwide, following a situation analysis and strengthened surveillance where multiple sources of suicide data were integrated. Training of media professionals led to an average of 20% reduction in articles with inappropriate suicide reporting per month; implementing school-based life-skills programmes in 26 high-risk schools, with 318 adolescent peer leaders and 50 teachers trained, resulted in 87% of adolescents able to identify suicide warning signs and 71% reporting improved self-image; and capacitating more than 120 first responders and rescuers under the Helper of Psychiatric Emergency (HOPE) Task Force resulted in the assessment, management and safe referral of 828 cases for ongoing care

In Uruguay, a national real-time surveillance system for suicide attempts has recently been established. At the clinical level, this system is supporting early detection, timely intervention and rapid follow-up of people engaging in suicidal behaviour, in line with clinical guidelines for suicide attempts. At the public policy level, the data is being used for a national situation analysis of suicide and self-harm to inform the national suicide prevention strategy and regional suicide prevention plans in the country.

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