Monitoring 18 Suicide Hotspots Can Save Lives

It has been found that with the suicide rates touching 800,000 in the world every single year, one way of bringing them down is by visiting the suicide hotspots.

Some areas all over the world are commonly used to commit suicide. While these "hotspots" were studied in depth by researchers, they also felt that they could take some ways to prevent some of these deaths, according to Yahoo! News.

This was a study conducted by the University of Melbourne professor Jane Pirkis, who collected information from 18 different suicide hotspots around the world. She discovered that about 40,000 people take their lives in the United States annually.

Even as suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 29, according to the World Health Organization, it has been discovered that some spots are more popular than others to do away with oneself. Hence, the suicide hotspots include San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge, the London Tube and the Eiffel Tower.

Some methods have been suggested to reduce the suicides, including restricted access, putting up safety nets and barriers, or bringing in a third party to intervene and stop the suicide, according to The Daily Mail.

With these measures in place, the rate of suicides can be reduced by 90 percent.

It has been found that more than 1,600 people committed suicide at the Golden Gate bridge, even though it was built as recently in 1937, according to CNN.

"Suicide attempts at these sites are often fatal and attract high profile media attention which can lead to copycat acts," Pirkis said.