Suicide - National Plan 2015-2019

The Luxembourg National Suicide Prevention Plan (Plan national de prévention du suicide au Luxembourg - PNPSL), launched in July 2015, aims to combat the causes and consequences of suicide in order to reduce suicide attempts and the number of deaths by suicide in Luxembourg. The PNPSL was prepared in close collaboration with the Information & Prevention Service of the Luxembourg League for Mental Health.

The situation in Luxembourg

In Luxembourg, the number of suicides is estimated at:

• 730 for the period 2009 to 2018.

With a standardised suicide mortality rate of 9.49 per 100,000 for 2017, the Grand Duchy is below the European average (10.75 per 100,000 in EU27 in 2016).

The number of suicides in the 27 European Union countries was 48,889 for 2016, which corresponds to a standardised suicide mortality rate of 10 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The epidemiological data on suicide in Luxembourg reveals several observations:

• almost 1 in 50 deaths is by suicide,
• suicide affects more men than women: between 2009 and 2018, 529 men compared to 201 women.

The extent of the problem is all the greater when you take into account that the attempted suicide rate is 10 to 20 times higher than the rate for deaths by suicide. To this we can add the considerable impact that suicide has, beyond the individual themselves, on the lives and mental health of their loved ones and the community as a whole.

Suicide prevention is possible

Premature deaths by suicide have immeasurable consequences. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every suicide has a serious impact on at least 6 people left behind, leading to psychological, social and financial issues.

Suicide is the result of complex interactions between various risk and protection factors. Nonetheless, any suicide is preventable and there are ways of significantly reducing the number of deaths by suicide.

The objective

The fight against suicide is part of an active prevention policy, a multisector approach ('Health in all Policies') and approaches that address the risk factors at different levels:

• education of children and young people,
• identification of effective treatments for mental health problems,
• environmental intervention and analysis of risk factors.

The National Suicide Prevention Plan draws inspiration from the Australian 'Living Is For Everyone (LIFE)' model. This action plan model for tackling suicide is based on scientific evidence and has been applied in many countries including Australia, New Zealand and Scotland.

The main aim of this model is to help individuals, families and the community to increase their ability to respond quickly and in a coordinated way to people's distress.

33 priority actions

The 1st 2015-2019 action plan encompasses 33 priority actions, prepared with people working in the field and approved by the interministerial Suicide Prevention Group.

The priorities of the action plan include:

• prevention in the broadest sense of the word,
• at-risk groups,
• young people,
• elderly people,
• continued decentralisation of support structures,
• specific training,
• therapeutic treatment.

In order to objectively assess the impact of the national strategy and optimise the effectiveness of the various actions, an external evaluation of the whole action plan will be conducted.

Re-evaluations of the 2015-2019 national suicide prevention plan are also on the agenda.