One of the main public mental health challenges facing Iran in the recent decade is the increasing rate of suicide, especially in some provinces of the country1. After piloting an action research program in Khoram Abad (Lorestan province) and Nahavand (Hamedan province) in 2007, the National Integrated Suicide Prevention Program had been implemented throughout the country. Subsequent efforts in evaluating the project have since been implemented to analyze the Program’s impact. In addition to providing treatment and care, the program also provides aftercare services (brief psychosocial intervention and telephone follow-up) for individuals who attempted suicide and presented at emergency departments in four western provinces.
The National Suicide Prevention Program underwent recent revisions by national and international experts and a new version was scaled up to include the following goals and strategies:
- Improved registration of people who attempt suicide
- Reduction of stigma associated with suicide
- Increasing availability and provision of services through Primary Health Care
- Involvement of and engagement with Media to improve the quality of reporting suicide attempts
- Reducing the easy access to common means of suicide
- Improving research activities to understand the epidemiology and risk factors of suicide in the country
