Suicide-Safer Universities in Pakistan: A Shared Responsibility

Abstract

Students’ death by suicide is a global challenge with reported increasing rates among medical students but university students outside medical training are also vulnerable.¹ Recent events at a private university in Pakistan, where one student died by suicide and another attempted suicide within a span of less than two weeks, have sent shockwaves across academic and public circles. Such temporal clustering of suicide attempts within a single institution is a cause of concern and should not be dismissed as coincidental or purely individual acts. Instead, these incidents highlight all stakeholders to urgently reflect on systemic vulnerabilities within academic environments in the country and take preventive actions. Beyond getting the facts correct and institutional accountability, media coverage of student suicides also deserves close examination. The distribution of CCTV footage showing the student's death and attempt in the most recent instances is a grave ethical transgression and contravenes international guidelines on suicide reporting. Sensationalized or graphic reporting has well-established negative effects on public health and breaches the dignity of the deceased and their family but also risks triggering suicide contagion within the same institutional setting. Numerous studies support the Werther effect, which holds that dramatic and in-depth depictions of suicide encourage imitation, especially in young and vulnerable people. This editorial aim is to promote learning from these tragic incidents and identify broader lessons and strategies around mental ill-health and suicide in higher education institutions to help prevent future deaths.

Limited data is available from Pakistan regarding students’ suicides.^2,3 Official statistics from West suggest that the suicide rate for higher education students is lower compared with the general population of the same age.⁴ From August 2016 to July 2023,1108 suicides among higher education students (with male preponderance) in England and Wales were identified; calculated rate of 6.9 deaths per 100,000 students. In a study of Eleven hundred medical students in Pakistan, to assess the impact of COVID-19 on medical student’s psychological well-being, One in five medical students thought that it would be better if they were dead, and 8% admitted to often think of committing suicide during the past 2 weeks.⁵