Hon Peter Dunne: Suicide rates continue to decline
Suicide rates declined to 11.0 suicides per 100,000 people in 2007, the lowest rate since 1985 and a continuation of a downward trend over the past decade, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne announced today.
Suicide Facts 2007 (http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/suicide-facts-deaths-2007-dec09) the Ministry of Health’s annual publication of suicide and intentional self-harm hospitalisation data, showed that 483 people died by suicide in 2007, compared with 526 in 2006. The latest data represented a 27.3 percent drop from the peak rate of 15.1 deaths per 100,000 population in 1998.
Mr Dunne said the decline by over a quarter in the past decade was good news, and has occurred alongside a drop in intentional self-harm hospitalisation rates, which fell by 23.5 percent since 1998.
“This is a positive outcome that represents several years of hard work” he said.
He cited cross-government efforts to reduce suicide rates following the peak in rates, particularly amongst youth, in the late 1990s. This included the New Zealand Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy released in 1998, which led to many new activities to prevent suicide. This has been followed up with the all-ages New Zealand Suicide Prevention Strategy and its Action Plan, released in 2006 and 2008 respectively. ... Read the full text of this article.
