Suicide: Leading Cause of Death among Young Women

Dr Dandona added that "If only mortality were considered, conditions that cause significant disability would be missed and thus not addressed during policy making."

Dr Nimesh Desai, medical superintendent of the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) in Delhi said "Suicides could be linked to untreated depression and sometimes it is unrelated and could be due to interpersonal issues. But we do need greater awareness about depression so that people will come forward to get it treated like any other disease. Gender bias in health-seeking is one of the reasons why women are not brought in for treatment of depression. There is also the stigma attached to seeking treatment," as reported by TNN.

It was also noted that chronic obstructive lung disease also causes both deaths and disability among women and this is typically due to pollution, particularly indoor pollution from use of solid fuels like firewood and cow dung cakes. The lack of access to less harmful fuels like LPG, which is mostly unavailable to women in the lower socioeconomic group, is mainly the cause for it.

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