Suicide and self-harm prevention to be discussed at forum

Efforts to tackle suicide and self-harm are due to be discussed in Dublin today at the second annual forum arranged by the HSE's National Office of Suicide Prevention.

The latest figures on self-harm, which are due to be formally published at the meeting, show that hospitals dealt with 8,600 such cases in 2005.

They also show that the rate of deliberate self-harm among women is 37% higher than that among men, with almost half of all those treated in hospital under the age of 30.