How Hong Kong’s suicide prevention efforts can help reduce the global impact of Covid-19 on mental health

Hong Kong has faced many challenges in 2020 and its strong social support networks and resilience learned from Sars can help inform global efforts to better understand the impact of the pandemic on suicide and mental health

Paul Yip

Published: 9:45am, 10 Sep 2020

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September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day, the annual event to help those in distress across the globe. It offers an opportunity to highlight a major public health issue in suicide and encourages us to engage with each other and spread awareness of suicide prevention. The theme this year, “Working Together to Prevent Suicide”, is fitting since we have a shared global experience of working together to fight the threat of Covid-19.

Covid-19 has infected more than 27 million people worldwide and claimed more than 890,000 lives, and it is still spreading. The world economy faces a severe challenge, the economic recession is deep and likely to be long, and unemployment is having an adverse impact on people’s mental health as many companies are laying off workers. The suicide rate is expected to go up, making suicide prevention more timely and relevant.

In 2019, the suicide rate in Hong Kong was around 13 per 100,000 people, higher than the 12.3 figure in 2018. Hong Kong is an ageing society, and the suicide rate among older adults is nearly twice the population average. For an international comparison, Hong Kong’s age-standardised rate was estimated at 9.7 in 2019, which is still lower than the global rate of 10.5.

The elderly population consistently has the highest rate among different age groups. Social isolation, anxiety and poor health conditions are some of the major concerns of older adults, arising especially from quarantine measures. Women aged 25 to 39, particularly low-income and working women, have also experienced a significant increase.

On the other hand, we have seen some encouraging improvement in the suicide rate among younger people aged 15 to 24. The rise of student suicides has been somewhat contained, though more work needs to be done to address their concerns holistically. Inspiring hope and providing youth mobility would help mitigate stress among our young people.

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There has been no significant increase in suicide among our youth during the protest movement. Such claims are media-induced myths and should be discouraged to avoid the copycat effect. This decline in suicide among youth can be attributed to the diligent efforts by many segments of society to provide support.

The Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention is collaborating with non-governmental organisations to provide online emotional support services for distressed youth. The response has been encouraging as youths can remain anonymous and reduce the risk being identified and stigmatised. Innovative crisis support service models through a digital platform need to be developed to help them better access mental health care.

The painful experience of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003 showed us the plight of older adults. Those in care homes could not meet their families, which can lead to feelings of loneliness and other negative emotions. In response, the centre for suicide research and the Community Partner Foundation launched the “Cross-generational Love & Care” project.

The project invited children from local kindergartens and primary schools to produce short clips to show their care for elderly people living in care homes. The children and their parents had an opportunity to do charity work together and express their love, care and respect to the elderly in the community.

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In response to widespread concerns about the impact of the pandemic on suicide and suicidal behaviour, an international group of suicide prevention researchers and charities from around 30 countries formed the International Covid-19 Suicide Prevention Research Collaboration and pooled their thinking on priorities. We need our best minds to deal with the matter with strong leadership and commitment.

The aim is to enhance research on the prevention and management of suicide and suicidal behaviour as they relate to the pandemic. There is an urgent need for a global response to understand the impact of the pandemic on suicide, as well as effective strategies to mitigate the risk.

Hong Kong is taking part, and it is encouraging to see provisional suicide figures in Hong Kong and Taiwan not show any significant increase over the past eight months. This can be linked to greater social support in the community and resilience learned from Sars.

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Hong Kong has faced all sorts of challenges in 2020. We appeal to everyone in the community to work together, and the best practice models we develop in Hong Kong will be an important contribution to reducing the impact of Covid-19 on mental health and suicide risk globally.

The suicide rate during Covid-19 does not have to go up as long we are doing the right thing. One death by suicide is still one too many.

Paul Yip is director of the HKJC Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong and a national representative at the International Association of Suicide Prevention

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