In the first 4 months of this year, according to data from the National Institute of Health (INS), there were 451 suicide attempts in the department, while in the same period in 2022 there were 402.
This social problem also appeared in the rest of the country. In the first four months of 2023 there were 12,609 people in Colombia who tried to remove their own, data that for the same period last year was 10,631.
Traditionally, Risaralda has been one of the most affected departments in the nation in terms of suicides, registering higher rates than the rest of the country, which shows the need to reinforce actions in mental health.
In the first 4 months of this year, the Risaraldense territory ranked second in the Coffee Axis with the highest number of suicide attempts with 451, while Caldas had 466 and Quindío 170, according to a report from the INS.
poisoning
One of the methods most used by people who try to eliminate themselves is through the consumption of chemical substances. Medications were responsible for the majority of acute poisonings by chemical substances, being the substances most used in suicidal intent.
The authorities in the country carry out surveillance of acute poisoning by chemical substances, which includes acute health events related to exposure to chemical substances, including exposures with suicidal, accidental, and occupational intentions, among others.
In 2022, 44,533 cases of poisoning by chemical substances were reported in Colombia for all types of exposure, of these 24,596 corresponded to suicidal intent with final condition alive and 19,937 to other types of exposure.
These cases represent a total incidence of acute poisoning by chemical substances of 86.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
The behavior of acute poisoning by chemical substances by sex showed that last year the highest incidence occurred in the female population with 95.7 cases per 100,000 female inhabitants; This incidence is higher than that calculated for 2021, which was 77.4 cases per 100,000 female inhabitants.
When discriminating the incidences by life cycle and sex, it was observed that the highest incidence for men and women corresponds to the adolescent life cycle with 223.6 cases per 100,000 adolescent inhabitants, in turn, in this life cycle the highest incidence corresponds to sex female with 335.9 cases per 100,000 female adolescent inhabitants.
Deaths
Regarding the behavior of deaths associated with acute poisoning by chemical substances, in 2022 263 deaths were reported, 62 more cases than those reported in 2021 (201 deaths).
In the two years, completed suicide was the main type of exposure (45.8% for 2021 and 43.7% for 2022), for 2021 the second intentionality associated with mortality was accidental (16.4%), while for In 2022, the second intentionality associated with deaths was psychoactive intentionality (26.2%); these deaths are associated with the outbreak of intoxication by liquor adulterated by methanol in Bogotá.