AASRA at Healthcare for Mumbai Roundtable discussion held at ORF,Mumbai

Aasra Director Johnson Thomas was an invitee particpant of the Healthcare for Mumbai Roundtable organised and conducted by Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai. The Roundtable was represntative selection of all the noted NGO's and stakeholders working in the healthcare sector in Mumbai. Held on 22 Friday, June 2012, between 10.00 am and 4.30 pm.

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

Suicide Statistics for 2010, India

Suicide Statistics for 2010 is out : 69/130 women are housewives who committed suicide every day. 139 committed suicide per day Age 0-23] 123 committed suicide per day: [30-44] .................................................................................. SUICIDES  15 Suicides took place every hour.  More than one lakh persons (1,34,599) in the country lost their lives by committing suicide during the year 2010.  It is observed that social and economic causes have led most of the males to commit suicides whereas emotional and personal causes have mainly driven females to end their lives.  Suicides because of ‘Family Problems’ (23.7%) and ’Illness’ (21.0%) combined accounted for 44.7% of total Suicides.  The percentage of suicides due to 'Property Dispute' and 'Death of dear person' showed a relatively higher increase of 48.0% and 28.9% respectively.  The overall male:female ratio of suicide victims for the year 2009 was 65:35, however, the proportion of Boys : Girls suicide victims (upto 14 years of age) was 52:48.  Nearly 70.5% of the suicide victims were married males while 67.0% were married females.  Five States – Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh – accounted for 65.8% of suicide victims in the age group 60 years and above.  69.2% of the suicide victims were married while 30.8% were un-married.  26.3% of the suicide victims were primary educated and 22.7% were middle educated while 19.8% of victims of suicide were illiterate.  1 suicide for every 5 suicides is committed by a Housewife.  41.1% of suicide victims were self employed while only 7.5% were un-employed.  Government servants were merely 1.4% of the total suicide victims.  West Bengal (11.9%), Andhra Pradesh (11.8%), Tamil Nadu (12.3%), Maharashtra (11.8%) and Karnataka (9.4%) contributed 57.2% of total suicide victims.  West Bengal has reported the highest number of suicide victims (accounting for 11.9%) in 2008 & 2009 and second highest in 2010 (accounting for 11.9%).  Southern States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu including Maharashtra have accounted for 51.7% of total suicides reported in the country.  Sikkim and Puducherry has reported 45.9 and 45.5 respectively suicidal deaths per one lakh of population as against the National average of 11.4. Cont... ( i x ) SUICIDES  More than (55.9%) children suicide victims belonged to five states – Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu out of 3,130 suicide victims.  Sikkim reported the highest rate of suicide (45.9) followed by Puducherry (45.5), A & N Islands (36.1), Kerala (24.6) and Chhattisgarh (26.6).  Tamil Nadu has reported significant increase in Suicides (16,561) in 2010 over 2009 (14,424) (an increase of 14.8%) followed by Maharashtra (from 14300 in 2009 to 15916 in 2010).  The highest number of Mass/Family Suicides cases were reported from Bihar (23) followed by Kerala (22) and Madhya Pradesh (21) and Andhra Pradesh (20) out of 109 cases.  33.1% of the suicide victims consumed poison; 31.4% of the victims died by hanging, 8.8% by Fire/Self-Immolation and 6.2% by Drowning. The trend of Suicide by Hanging has been mixed during last 3 years (32.2% in 2008, 31.5% in 2009 and 31.4% in 2010) while Suicide by Poisoning has shown decreasing trend in 2007 and 2008 (34.8% in 2008, 33.6% in 2009 and 33.1% in 2010).  Bengaluru (1,778), Chennai (1,325), Delhi (1,242) and Mumbai (1,192) – the four cities together have reported almost 40.5% of the total suicides reported from 35 mega cities.  Jabalpur has reported the highest rate of 41.5 and Kolkata reported the lowest rate at 2.1 only among 35 cities.  The pattern of suicides reported from 35 cities showed that ‘Hanging’ (44.5%), ‘Poisoning’ (20.6%) and ‘Fire/Self Immolation’ (12.6%) were the prominent means adopted by the suicide victims in the cities.  There is significant increase in number of suicides (136.5%) in Patna (from 63 in 2009 to 149 in 2010) while Dhanbad showed sharp decline of 60.5% (from 152 suicides in 2009 to 60 suicides in 2010).  The suicide rate in cities (12.7) was higher as compared to All-India suicide rate (11.4).

Write up on Teen Suicides in BBC website- by Zubair Ahmed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8473515.stm




Alarm at Mumbai's teenage suicide trend

By Zubair Ahmed
BBC News, Mumbai

A writer once said that more than one soul dies in a suicide.

It seems so in Neha Sawant's home. The atmosphere in the tiny flat in Mumbai has been lifeless since the 11-year-old was found hanging from her apartment window.

It has been weeks but her parents are still in deep shock. They look dazed and sleep-deprived.

Neha's distraught grandmother said in a broken voice: "Our brains are not working. We still cannot believe it."

Neha, at 11, must be one of the youngest in Mumbai to commit suicide. Figures suggest that more and more teenagers in India's financial hub are killing themselves.

Dizzying

Inexplicably, teenage suicides have become an almost daily occurrence in Maharashtra - one of India's most developed states - and its capital Mumbai (Bombay).


Rhea Timbekar
Something has gone amiss in [children's] lives quite early and suicides are a manifestation of that
Clinical psychologist Rhea Timbekar

The toll of teenage suicides from the beginning of the year until 26 January 2010 stood at 32, which is more than one a day.

While there are no comparative figures for the same period in 2009, there is a consensus among the concerned authorities in Mumbai that teenage suicides are spiralling out of control.

There is also a general agreement between psychologists and teachers that the main reason for the high number of teenagers taking their own lives is the increasing pressure on children to perform well in exams.

The scale of this largely preventable problem is dizzying - both in India with its billion-plus people and particularly in the state of in Maharashtra.

More than 100,000 people commit suicide in India every year and three people a day take their own lives in Mumbai.

Suicide is one of the top three causes of death among those aged between 15 and 35 years and has a devastating psychological, social and financial impact on families and friends.

'Needless toll'

World Health Organisation Assistant Director-General Catherine Le Gals-Camus points out more people die from suicide around the world than from all homicides and wars combined.

"There is an urgent need for co-ordinated and intensified global action to prevent this needless toll. For every suicide death there are scores of family and friends whose lives are devastated emotionally, socially and economically," she says.


Mangala Kulkarni
The children don't realise they have more avenues than academic successes
School principal Mangala Kulkarni

In Mumbai the authorities are so alarmed by the scale of the problem that they have began a campaign, Life is Beautiful, which aims to help students cope with academic pressure.

Psychologists visit government schools in Mumbai once a week to train teachers dealing with students' problems.

Sharadashram Vidyamandir school boasts illustrious alumni such as cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. It has been holding parent-teacher assemblies where parents can receive tips on tackling the pressures children face.

And yet such sessions could not prevent 12-year-old Shushant Patil's death. He was found hanging in the school toilet on 5 January.

Mangala Kulkarni is the principal of the girls' section of the school. She says that ultimately families need to be more proactive when it comes to stopping students from feeling stressed.

"The children don't realise they have more avenues than academic successes. They need to be made to realise this by their families from childhood," she said.

Blockbuster

A helpline in Mumbai, called Aasra, has been operating for several years to tackle the problem.

The director of the helpline, Johnson Thomas, says the problems today's children face are manifold: "They have peer pressure, they have communication problems with their parents, broken relationships, academic pressure and fear of failure," he says.

Aasra class in Mumbai
Classes to help vulnerable teenagers are now being held

The home ministry estimates that for every teenage suicide in Mumbai there are 13 failed attempts.

One theory behind the recent rise is the influence of a recently released Bollywood blockbuster, Three Idiots, which has a scene where an engineering student is shown committing suicide after a mediocre exam result.

The film's impact has been debated and scrutinised in prime time television shows, with many directly blaming it for adding to the problem.

But Mumbai clinical psychologist Rhea Timbekar argues that it would be wrong to blame the film, which she says strives to explain that parents should not put too much pressure on their children.

Ms Timbekar says that she recently met a child who had not eaten for four days.

The child's parents said they were upset with him because he only got 89% in exams and stood third in the class, compared to coming first in previous years.

"Such parents need to be counselled," she asserts.

Ms Timbekar said that another explanation for the high teenage suicide rate was "copycat suicides" where children read about suicides in newspapers and decide to do the same thing themselves.

'Extreme steps'

Dilip Panicker, an eminent psychologist in Mumbai, says that pressure of exams is alone is too simplistic an explanation.

Pupil at Sharadashram Vidyamandir school
It's hoped that young people will have a brighter future

"At one level school pressures and expectations from parents are a valid reason," he says, "but that's always been there.

"In fact, parents used to beat up their kids in our time. What's changed is that today children are more aware, they have more exposure. They are more independent. So they blame themselves for failures and take extreme steps."

Psychologists also argue that the definition of a teenager needs to be revised in 2010.

"Today's 11-year-olds are the new teens. What we did at the ages of 14 and 15 children can do at 11 today," says Rhea Timbekar.

She demolishes the theory that children are more likely to be spontaneous in committing suicide, as opposed to adults who start with an idea, proceed with a plan and end with action.

"A child doesn't just wake up in the morning and says I will commit suicide today," she argues. "Something has gone amiss in their lives quite early on and suicides are a manifestation of that."

The breakdown of India's traditional family system is also being blamed for the problem. In a city like Mumbai - where it is common for both parents to work - children tend to become reclusive and watch too much television.

Dilip Panicker argues that there is a simple solution.

"If parents love their children unconditionally, with all their successes and failures, the problem would be greatly alleviated."

Article on AASRA in liveMint mumbai

LiveMint Mumbai Oct 25,Sat issue
* Posted: Sat, Oct . 1:43 PM IST
*

* Culture
*

Aasra, Mumbai
What Aasra needs right now is both visibility and volunteers
Sidin Vadukut



www.aasra.info
Several of the plastic chairs inside the Aasra office lie vacant at 6pm on a Sunday evening. Johnson Thomas and the two other volunteers could be expected to be crestfallen. But after years of trying to recruit volunteers, they are now used to the disappointing mathematics of Aasra’s weekly orientation sessions for new volunteers.“Six people had called up and said they’d like to come. We are happy at least two people came,” says Thomas, a freelance art and film writer, with an enigmatic half-smile that is his default facial expression. Every Sunday evening, Aasra, a 10-year-old helpline for people with suicidal tendencies, conducts an orientation session for potential volunteers. The sessions take place in front of a well-used blackboard, streaked with several layers of white chalk markings, in the cramped and slightly claustrophobic Aasra office in Koparkhairane, Mumbai.
During the hour-long session, Thomas and other volunteers take potential volunteers through a brief profile of Aasra, the process involved in becoming a volunteer and, as candidly as possible, try to convey a true picture of the work involved.
Aasra is part of an international network of suicide helplines supported by the UK-based charity organization Samaritans—the global network is called Befrienders International. Established in 1953 by Chad Varah, the organization’s prime activity is a telephone helpline that is open to anyone with emotional trouble, especially those that could potentially lead to suicides. Troubled individuals are encouraged to call in and speak to a volunteer who is specially trained to listen and offer support.
In Koparkhairane, Aasra volunteers run the helpline 6 hours a day, seven days a week, between 3pm and 9pm. Volunteers man the line in 3-hour shifts on most days. “Normally, we get around seven or eight calls a day,” says Thomas. But during school examinations and result declaration season—“You could call it ‘peak’ season for want of a term”— Aasra has to handle 70 to 80 calls a day.Schoolchildren are the single largest contingent among Aasra’s callers. The 20 volunteers end up working overtime handling calls from students.
Taking a call is anything but a matter of speaking softly in a soothing voice. “You have to be a friend: non-judgemental, non-intrusive. And never give advice. Most kids already get enough of that from their parents and teachers. They don’t want even the helpline to do that,” explains Thomas. And to make sure that every “listener” sticks to these basic tenets, all volunteers are made to go through a six-month training programme involving classroom sessions, group activities, role-plays and mock telephone calls.When asked to share his experiences with callers, Thomas is hesitant. Confidentiality is central to the Aasra’s—and Samaritans’— scheme of things. Callers are not asked to log their names or addresses and each call is treated as an independent engagement. Callers can come to the Aasra office for a face-to-face, but due to a shortage of volunteers, Thomas says, they try to avoid that as far as possible.
When pressed, he talks about how students, normally children in classes X and XII, call in during exam times. “It is a period of transition for these kids. And they feel scared. They call up saying they haven’t been able to study...or they’ve done badly in the exams.” The children then confess that they are scared of their parents’ reactions. Aasra volunteers first let the children speak their minds and focus on the issue bothering them—often just getting someone to listen to them prevents these children from doing anything drastic. Thomas says about 40% of the children call back for further help. “We don’t keep a database of callers. But we do know the frequent callers.” Calling regularly, though, is not something Aasra encourages. “We want them to become self-reliant over time.”
One of Thomas’ Aasra colleagues, an employee with Central Railways, relates how the volunteer training programme often ends up helping a lot of volunteers cope with their personal issues too. Thomas then reiterates how the rewards are unmatched: “When you do a good job here you save a life. Almost instantly.”
After the meeting ends, and both potential candidates leave, promising to call back, Thomas and his companions pack up after ensuring the phones have been set to auto-forward calls to volunteers’ cellphones: “This way, not everyone has to come down to Koparkhairane to help.”
What Aasra needs right now is both visibility and volunteers. After the meeting, the trio walks me down the road to a teashop. As Thomas sips on chai, he expresses his hope for Aasra: “We are happy with what we do now. But if we grow we can help more people. More children will see our telephone number and more children will call. If they do, we will make sure that there is always someone on the other end of the line.”
*****
If you want to volunteer
Those who wish to be “listeners” have to mandatorily go through a six-month training programme, over weekends only. All volunteers are expected to put in 3-6 hours of work a week, including at least one 3-hour shift on the phone and additional time for team meetings and any outreach programmes. Knowledge of Marathi or Hindi is desirable. You can also help Aasra by assisting it with seminars, outreach programmes and public events. Just turn up for the weekend orientation programme to know what you can do. For details, call Johnson Thomas at
*****
Rs5,000 for this charity can
Pay a month’s telephone and electricity bills
Pay three weeks’ rent for the Aasra office
Help them to conduct 10 batches of school outreach programmes where Aasra volunteers hold seminars and study sessions with schoolchildren
Buy five months of study material and refreshments for an orientation programme batch of 12 volunteers
*****
People like us
Saath
B12, Nilamber Complex, HL Commerce College Road, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad
Contact: Call
Lifeline Foundation
17/1A, Alipore Road, Sarat Bose Road, Kolkata, West Bengal
Contact: Call /7432
Childline India Foundation
Nana Chowk Municipal School, 2nd Floor, Frere Bridge, Near Grant Road Station, Mumbai
Contact: ‘www.childlineindia.org.in’, email dial1098@childlineindia.org.in or call 022-23881098.
Roshni
1-8-303/48/21, Kalavathy Nivas, Sindhi Colony, SP Road, Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Contact: Call 09166202000
Sneha
11, Park View Road, RA Puram. Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Contact: Email help@snehaindia.org or call 044-24640050
Maithri
ICTA-Santigram, Changampuzha Nagar (PO), Kalamassery, Ernakulam Kochi, Kerala
Contact: ‘www.maithrikochi.org’ or call 0484-2540530
Sumaitri
1, Bhagwan Das Lane, Aradhana Hostel Complex, Basement, New Delhi
Contact: ‘www.sumaitri.org’ or call 011-23389090
The Samaritans, Helpline
Riddhi Siddhi CHS, Next to Lal Baug Police Chowky, Dr B. Ambedkar Road, Parel, Mumbai
Contact: 022-32473267