Current status of violence, suicide, alcohol use, and stigma in Mexico

Abstract

Studies on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) and its risk factors have shown worldwide the preponderant role of accidents and violence in the burden of disease and the role of alcohol consumption as a main risk factor in the current epidemiological profile (GBD 2019 Risk Factors Collaborators, 2020; GBD 2019 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators, 2020). GBD studies in Mexico have not only confirmed this (Gómez-Dantés et al., 2016), but also shown the enormous human loss entailed by violence in Mexico and the preponderant role of alcohol consumption as a risk factor. To complicate things further, whereas the suicide mortality rate fell by 32.7% between 1990 and 2016 worldwide, Mexico is experiencing a constant increase in this cause of mortality (Naghavi et al., 2019). One step to enhance coping with this complicated panorama is to give mental and neurological disorders, substance use, and suicide the role that corresponds to them, programmatically and financially, due to their implication in the burden of disease in Mexico (PAHO, 2018). This number of Salud Mental touches several of these important issues and paves the way to advance our comprehension of violence, suicide, alcohol use, and stigma in Mexico.