Bridging Policy and Research for Suicide Prevention in the Americas: A Joint PAHO/NIMH Symposium on Suicide Prevention

Bridging Policy and Research for Suicide Prevention in the Americas: A Joint PAHO/NIMH Symposium on Suicide Prevention
Invitation

Forging Connections

Bridging Policy and Research for Suicide Prevention in the Americas: 

A Joint PAHO/NIMH Symposium on Suicide Prevention

13 - 14 June 2024

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the National Institute of Mental Health are organizing a two-day Symposium on suicide prevention, a key priority of the Americas' public health agenda. The Symposium will provide an opportunity for countries in the Region and relevant actors to discuss advances and gaps in suicide research, evidence-based interventions, and how to strengthen links between research and policy for suicide prevention. 

The Symposium will include panel discussions and plenary sessions led by international experts in the fields of mental health and suicide prevention. It will be livestreamed with simultaneous translation in English and Spanish.

Objectives:

  1. To discuss the current state of knowledge on suicide risk and prevention, evidence-based prevention strategies, and optimal service delivery approaches;
  2. To share national experiences on implementing evidence-based suicide prevention strategies;
  3. To foster multisectoral collaboration between governments, academic institutions, and civil society to promote strategies to prevent self-harm and suicide, and
  4. To discuss suicide prevention priorities for the Region.

 How to participate

  • DATE: Thursday 13 and Friday 14, June, 2024
  • TIME: 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (EDT) [check the local time in other cities at the end of this page]
  • LANGUAGES: English and Spanish with simultaneous translation.

LIVESTREAM: 

 Agenda

Click on the words in the yellow bar to display the agenda for each one of the days

Moderator: Dr. Renato Oliveira e Souza. Chief, Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, Pan American Health Organization

8:30 am Registration 

9:00 am Opening remarks 

  • Ms. Mary Lou Valdez, Deputy Director, Pan American Health Organization  
  • Dr. Joshua Gordon (video), Director, National Institute of Mental Health    

9:10 am Introductory Remarks 

 

  • Dr. Nelson Arboleda, Director, Americas Office, Office of Global Affairs, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 

9:20 am Suicide in the Region of the Americas

  • Dr. Renato Oliveira e Souza, Chief, Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, Pan American Health Organization 

9:40 am Evidence-based suicide prevention: an overview of the WHO LIVE LIFE Guide 

  • Dr. Alexandra Fleischmann (video), Scientist, Department of Mental Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization  

10:10 am BREAK

 

10:30 am PANEL 1: Establishing and strengthening suicide surveillance systems

Moderator: Dr. Claudina Cayetano, Regional Advisor on Mental Health, Pan American Health Organization  

  • Professor Ella Arensman, School of Public Health, University College Cork, National Suicide Research Foundation & WHO Collaborating Centre for Surveillance and Research in Suicide Prevention 
  • Dr. Mary Cwik, Senior Scientist, Center for Indigenous Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health,  Johns Hopkins University, United States 
  • Dr. Eduardo Katz, Director of Mental Health, State Health Services Administration, Uruguay 
  • Dr. Alejandra Moreira, Coordinator, Mental Health Program, Ministry of Public Health, Uruguay 

11:30 pm PANEL 2: Reducing access to lethal means: pesticides, firearms, and medications

Moderator: Dr. Stephen O’Connor, Chief, Suicide Prevention Research Program, Division of Services and Intervention Research, National Institute of Mental Health 

  • Dr. Gamini Manuweera, Consultant, Regulatory Outreach, Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom  
  • Dr. Emmy Betz, Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine, United States 
  • Dr. Timothy Morgan, Director, Mental Health Unit, Ministry of Health, Guyana 
  • Ms. Cheshta Sewtahal, Head, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Department, Ministry of Health, Suriname

12:30 pm GROUP PHOTO followed by LUNCH 

 

2:00 pm PANEL 3: Fostering socio-emotional life skills in adolescents 

Moderator: Dr. Sonja Caffe, Regional Adolescent Health Advisor, Pan American Health Organization 

  • Ms. Diana Rayes, Mental Health & Psychosocial Support Technical Specialist, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 
  • Dr. Michael A. Lindsey (video) Dean and Paulette Goddard Professor of Social Work, New York University Silver School of Social Work, United States 
  • Dr. Belen Vargas Gallegos, Psychologist and consultant, National Suicide Prevention Program, Ministry of Health, Chile

3:00 pm PANEL 4: 

Responsible reporting on suicide 

Moderator: Ms. Arantxa Cayón, Communications & Knowledge Management Specialist, Pan American Health Organization 

  • Dr. Mark Sinyor, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada 
  • Ms. Aneri Pattani, Senior Correspondent, KFF Health News, United States 
  • Dr. Hazel Othello, Director, Mental Health Unit, Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago

4:00 pm BREAK

 

 4:20 pm Wrap-up session 

  • Dr. Anselm Hennis, Director, Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, Pan American Health Organization

Moderator: Dr. Stephen O’Connor. Chief, Suicide Prevention Research Program, Division of Services and Intervention Research, National Institute of Mental Health.

8:30 am Registration 

9:00 am Lessons from Day 1 

  • Dr. Claudina Cayetano. Regional Advisor on Mental Health, Pan American Health Organization  

9:10 am PANEL 5: Improving early identification, assessment, management, and follow-up for people affected by suicide 

Moderator: Dr. Renato Oliveira e Souza. Chief, Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, Pan American Health Organization 

  • Dr. Lisa Horowitz, Senior Associate Scientist, National Institute of Mental Health 
  • Dr. Richard McKeon, Public Health Advisor, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States 
  • Dr. Pamela Espinosa Méndez, Head, National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, National Commission on Mental Health and Addictions, Mexico  
  • Ms. Paulina del Rio, Founder, José Ignacio Foundation, Chile  

10:40 am BREAK

11:00 am PANEL 6: Supporting research on suicide prevention 

Moderator: Dr. Vidya Vedham, Senior Scientist, Center for Global Mental Health Research, National Institute of Mental Health 

  • Dr. Daiane Machado, Research Associate, Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS/FIOCRUZ), Brazil  
  • Dr. Lisa Wexler, Professor of Social Work and Researcher, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, United States 
  • Dr. Felipe Agudelo Hernández, Research expert in mental health, Pan American Health Organization, Colombia 

12:30 pm Lunch

2:00 pm Concluding Reflections - Plenary discussion 

Moderators

  • Dr. Leonardo Cubillos, Director, Center for Global Mental Health Research, National Institute of Mental  
  • Dr. Renato Oliveira e Souza, Chief, Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, Pan American Health Organization

 Context

Suicide is a major public health concern in the Region of the Americas. Over 93,000 people in the Region of the Americas died by suicide annually between 2015 and 2019, representing an age-standardized rate of 9.0 per 100,000 population and equivalent to 432.3 years of life lost (YLLs) per 100,000 population. Every case of suicide is a tragedy that severely impacts not only individuals but also families and communities.
 
While suicide mortality rates have decreased globally by 36% (between 2000 and 2019), these rates increased in the Region of the Americas by 17% during the same period. The overall suicide rate in the Region is also believed to be an underestimate due to the absence of population-level monitoring and reporting in many countries.
 
Addressing the suicide crisis in our Region will require accelerated and coordinated actions and interventions by countries and strategic partners. Population-level monitoring of suicide prevention indicators is urgently needed to allow countries to make evidence-informed decisions regarding suicide based on a comprehensive understanding of underlying drivers in order to address risk factors for suicide and self-harm and strengthen the implementation of national suicide prevention policies and plans of action. Research must also inform the epidemiology of suicide in the Region and identify evidence-based interventions that could contribute to reducing regional suicide rates.
 
Considering the extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on known risk factors for suicide, focusing on suicide prevention becomes especially important in supporting Member States to build social connections, raise awareness, and provide hope.
 
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) continues to work with the Member States and stakeholders to reduce suicide rates in the Americas and achieve global and regional targets, including United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Target 3.4, which aims to reduce premature mortality by one-third by 2030 through prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well-being.
 
The PAHO High-Level Commission on Mental Health and COVID-19 outlined suicide prevention as one of its ten priority areas to advance mental health in the Region of the Americas. This topic was reiterated in the PAHO Strategy for Improving Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in the Region of the Americas, approved by the 60th PAHO Directing Council in September 2023.
 
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Center for Global Mental Health Research (CGMHR) supports mental health research in low-resource settings in order to accelerate and enrich scientific advancements while helping to reduce mental health disparities globally and domestically. Guided by NIMH’s suicide prevention research priorities, the CGMHR is expanding investment in global suicide prevention research, as noted in the recently launched Suicide Prevention Program, “Suicide Prevention Across the Lifespan in Low-and Middle-Income Countries”.

 Time in other cities

  • 5:30 a.m. – Los Angeles, Vancouver.
  • 6:30 a.m. -  Belmopan, Guatemala City, Managua, Mexico City, San Jose (CR), San Salvador,  Tegucigalpa,
  • 7:30 a.m. – Bogota, Kingston, Lima, Panama City,  Quito
  • 8:30 a.m.  – Asunción, Bridgetown, Caracas, Georgetown, Havana, La Paz, Port of Spain, Port-au-Prince, Nassau, Ottawa, Santiago, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Washington D.C.
  • 9: 30 a.m. -  Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo, Paramaribo.
  • 2:30 p.m. – Geneva, Madrid.

For other cities, check the local time using the following link.

 Resources

 

SUICIDE PREVENTION IN THE AMERICAS


 

Photos

 

Imagen del grupo de panelistas y participantes en el Simposio sobre Prevención del Suicidio