Dr Piumee Bandara
Celebrating women across the globe helping to prevent deaths from pesticide self-poisoning.Supporting governments to develop national suicide prevention strategies
Name
Dr Piumee Bandara
Job role
Consultant in Suicide Prevention for the World Health Organization (WHO)
Location
Spain
Tell us about your role?
My role is to provide technical guidance to countries in developing national suicide prevention strategies and in implementing, monitoring and evaluating suicide prevention interventions and activities. A key part of this is supporting governments in limiting access to means of suicide through banning specific pesticides used for self-poisoning. I also work on UN publications to strengthen regulatory activity on highly hazardous pesticides for the prevention of suicide.
Why is this work important to you?
I am fueled by an urgency to act on inequity. The easy availability of lethal pesticides in homes and communities in the Global South represents an injustice. Many young people in these settings who are experiencing acute distress and ingest pesticide, don’t get a second chance or the opportunity to receive help, as we see in other parts of the world. This is unacceptable. However, successful policy solutions exist and with appropriate action, hundreds of thousands of lives can be saved.
This profile has been compiled for International Women’s Day 2025, to celebrate the incredible women worldwide who are helping to prevent deaths from pesticide self-poisoning.