Preventing deaths from pesticide self-poisoning—learning from Sri Lanka's success

WHO estimates that over 800 000 people die by suicide each year, with the majority of these deaths occurring in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).1 During the late 1990s and early 2000s an estimated 35% of suicides, or 300 000 deaths, were due to intentional pesticide self-poisoning.2 These numbers have since fallen,3 but WHO still considers pesticide self-poisoning to be one of the three most important means of global suicide.1