Pesticides and suicides Intial Think-Tank meet at TISS,Deonar, Mumbai

Dear Padma/Sana/Johnson/Jacquleen/Irshad/Evon, Further to my discussion with you, about the issue of toxic pesticides interlinked with Public health problem of suicides - an initial contact (think-tank) meeting was scheduled for Monday, 23rd April at the Board Room. It will be a very short meeting from 9 am - 1 pm. A reading list is attached, a participant list and a program outline below. Pesticides and Suicide in India April 23, 2012 Program Outline 09.00 - 09.30 Opening Remarks & Introduction of Participants: (Dr. T.Jayaraman/Dr. Surinder Jaswal and Dr. Linda Degutis, CDC) 09:30 - 10:15 Dr. Laxmi Vijayakumar, Chennai : Suicide as a Public Health Problem in India 10:15 - 10:45 Dr. Arlene Greenspan, CDC: Injury Prevention and Control at CDC: Focus on Suicide 10:45 - 11:15 Dr. Vikas Kapil, CDC: Environmental Health and Toxicology: Public Health Approaches Lessons Learned from Injury Surveillance Efforts in Latin America 11:15 - 01:00 Group Discussion 12:45 - 1:30 LUNCH at Oasis 2:30 Leave for airport

Letter from Dr. Nobhojit Roy who chaired the meet held on 23rd April 2012, 9 am to 1.30 pm at the disaster Management college Boardroom in the new TISS campus
Thank you all for attending the meeting on Pesticides and Suicides this morning! It was a good interaction, and each participant brought a unique strength to the table. We will be in touch in the coming months, to develop a multi-pronged, multi-disciplinary approach to suicides.
Some of the points that were discussed: 1. Surveillance for collection of primary data (CDC and Dr. Lakshmi V.) 2. Secondary sources of data, to infer about national burden of suicides - attempted and completed. 3. Pilot interventions for suicide prevention - limiting access, and just-in-time counselling and psychological first aid. 4. Input from grassroot NGOs like Aasra, Sneha and Cehat about ground realities for surveillance, referral patterns and under reporting. 5. Suicide prevention research in diverse Indian situations of agricultural, non-agricultural, urban-rural and conflict settings. 6. Advocacy for banning use of highly lethal Class I pesticides (CDC, Sagar Galwankar) and marketing educational initiatives 7. Sensitizing health providers about attempted suicide victims and referral. (Cehat, Aasra) 8. Recent advances in the treatment of OP poisoning in the Indian setting.(Sagar Galwankar) 9. Establishment of Suicide survivors self-help groups.

Participants: Group Photo attached
Linda Degutis Director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Arlene Greenspan Associate Director for Science National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Vikas Kapil Chief Medical Officer and Associate Director for Science National Center for Environmental Health & Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar India Representative, International Association for Suicide Prevention Founder, SNEHA (www.snehaindia.org)
Sana Contractor, BDS, MPH Associate Co-ordinator, CEHAT, Vakola, Mumbai (www.cehat.org)
Johnson Thomas Director, Aasra www.aasra.info aasrasuicideprevention.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/aasrasuicideprevention Mob: 9820466726
Sagar Galwankar, MD, DNB, MPH Emergency Physician, Seven Hills Hospital, Mumbai
T. Jayaraman, PhD Dean, School of Habitat, TISS
Surinder Jaswal, PhD Dean, School of Social Work, TISS.
Jacquleen Joseph, PhD Associate Professor (Mental health) JTCDM, TISS
Samrat Sinha, PhD Assistant Professor, JTCDM, TISS
Siddharth David, MDM Research Officer, TISS
Abhijeet Jadhav, MBBS, MPH Sr. Research fellow, Centre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi
Nobhojit Roy, MS, MPH Head, Dept of Surgery, BARC Hospital V/Prof, Public Health, JTCDM, TISS