Premature death from suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the world. Due to the stigma attached to suicide, not all suicides are officially recorded as such. Both the WHO & the UN have recommended that member states should develop national suicide-prevention programs & they should establish national committees to coordinate the prevention strategies. Over the past decade, several countries have set suicide reduction as a target & have developed or are now developing suicide-prevention strategies. (18 refs.)