4 December 2019
The Hugo Charitable Trust commits funding to child and youth suicide prevention study
Cure Kids is pleased to announce that $155,800 of funding has been donated by the Hugo Charitable Trust to support
University of Otago clinical psychologist Dr Sarah Fortune’s child and adolescent self-harm surveillance and suicide
prevention research.
Dr Fortune’s primary research project - the Aotearoa Self-Harm Hospital Study: sentinel surveillance of paediatric self-harm in New Zealand – received initial funding of $107,000 from Cure Kids and launched in May this year. This is a New Zealand-first study
and is piloting a surveillance system of hospital-presenting cases of self-harm among those under 15 years at Middlemore
Hospital in South Auckland.
The Hugo Charitable Trust’s (Hugo) additional funding support of $155,800 is greatly boosting the initial project;
enabling the development of a “real time” warning system for unexpected increases in self-harm presentations – a new and
innovative area of work which will allow hospitals nationally to identify local spikes in presentations and rapidly
respond with appropriate services. Hugo’s funding will also ensure the inclusion of Southland Hospital in Invercargill
in the study, and critically, provide a full-time postdoctoral fellow appointment to assist Dr Fortune with this
project. The Fellow will be mentored under Dr Fortune’s supervision, introduced to her local and international networks,
thereby creating a sustainable legacy of workforce development with local and national suicide prevention expertise.
Cure Kids CEO Frances Benge says “We are thrilled that our partnership with the Hugo Charitable Trust will enable
significant, concurrent expansion of Dr Fortune’s work. Despite high public interest, little progress has been made in
reducing suicide, particularly due to lack of good quality data to inform interventions. Together, Cure Kids and Hugo
can make a real impact on the future of our at-risk tamariki through the provision of robust epidemiological data on who
self-harms, and which interventions are most likely to reduce suicide deaths for children.”
Self-harm hospital presentation and suicide in New Zealand’s young people
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the world. In addition, around 10 children aged 10 – 14
years die by suicide in New Zealand each year, and Māori females are particularly vulnerable.
Hospital presentation for self-harm is one of the strongest predictors of death by suicide, so a comprehensive
understanding of this high-risk population is essential for suicide prevention.
One startling fact with important implications for prevention is that children and adolescents who attend hospital
following an act of self-harm are fifty times more likely to die by suicide. This information is crucial to informing
suicide prevention interventions. Further, one in four will re-present with a further episode of self-harm within six
months. Self-harm is defined as any form of intentional self-poisoning or self-injury regardless of motivation or the
degree of intention to die.
Dr Fortune’s study includes a collaboration with the New Zealand Paediatric Surveillance Unit, a system of national
surveillance through a reporting card or email sent to all practicing New Zealand paediatricians (92 percent of
registered paediatricians) on a monthly basis. Self-harm in children younger than 15 years of age will be included in
the monthly card/email over this period. This will ensure coverage of a range of regional hospitals.
Dr Fortune says “Suicide is tragic because it is preventable. Despite increasing public interest in prevention, almost
no progress has been made in reducing the persistently high and growing suicide rate in New Zealand.
Current data reporting practices in New Zealand undercount self-harm presentations by 50 to 60 percent. Children and
adolescents under 15 years who harm themselves are at particularly increased risk of suicide, but prevention activities
have focused on older age groups.”
About Cure Kids
Cure Kids is New Zealand’s largest charitable funder of child health research. Cure Kids is committed to finding better
treatments and preventative strategies for a wide range of serious child health conditions including child cancer,
obesity, autism spectrum disorder, asthma, inherited health conditions, mental health, infectious diseases, epilepsy,
and type 1 diabetes, among many others.
Since forming more than 48 years ago, Cure Kids has invested more than $40 million in New Zealand research which has
helped to shape and vastly improve the way children who live with serious diseases and health conditions are diagnosed
and treated. Cure Kids is currently funding over $10 million in child health research across 60 projects. For more
information visit: www.curekids.org.nz
About the Hugo Charitable Trust
Maryanne Green founded the Hugo Charitable Trust (Hugo) in 2017. Maryanne is the eldest daughter of Irish philanthropist
and businessman, the late Hugh Green, known in Ireland as Hugo. Hugo continues the endowment of Hugh’s philanthropic
legacy, investing in the relief of poverty, the advancement of family, social and community welfare, and the care and
support of the disadvantaged or marginalised.
ENDS