NATO STO

The Exploratory Team (ET-103) and Research Task Group (RTG-218) were established in 2009 and 2011 respectively to provide an opportunity for international dialogue on the topic of military suicide across various NATO and Partner for Peace (PfP) nations. Prior to the formation of these groups, there had been no systematic effort across nations to collaboratively examine the public health problem of military suicide and to identify best practices for suicide prevention among Armed Forces and Veterans. The soon to be released 2015 NATO RTG-218 Technical Report provides findings based on a questionnaire completed by representatives of 17 nations on military suicide and prevention endeavours. A series of White Papers have been prepared on topics pertaining to military suicide prevention and a website platform is currently under development at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in the United States to widely disseminate international literature and content on military suicide. Briefly stated, to date, these NATO groups have accomplished the following objectives: (1) examined surveillance efforts on military suicide across several NATO and PfP nations; (2) advanced understanding of current military suicide prevention gaps as well as best practices; and (3) disseminated information on military suicide prevention based on collaboration and sharing of knowledge across participating nations. However, a sustained effort in addressing the public health problem of military suicide is necessary and additional progress must be made.