Purpose Physicians worldwide need to be able to identify and assess suicide risk or behavior in their consults. The proper training of medical staff is an important form of suicide prevention, especially because 80% of the patients who died by suicide were in contact with a health-care service in the year of their death. The purpose of this study is to verify if some of the most important Brazilian medical schools includes discussions regarding suicide in their curricula, and describe them. Design/methodology/approach The study performed a documentary analysis of all Brazilian federal higher education institutions. The analysis involved selecting the institutions that approached the topic of suicide in their curricula, and sorting it by keywords. The curricula that contained such keywords were then entirely read, analyzed and all components found were described regarding course period, workload and approach. Findings Within the 68 analyzed institutions, 19 (28%) included suicide in their curricula with a total of 31 components approaching suicide among them. Those components belonged to different stages of the course and had different workloads and approaches. A total of seven different approaches were identified: Clinical (54.8%); Emergency (16.1%); Medical Psychology (9.7%); Ethics (6.5%); Social (6.5%); Occupational (3.2%) and Forensic (3.2%). Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is the first to address medical education regarding suicide in a large number of Brazilian institutions. It is also one of the few studies worldwide to quantify suicide discussion on a large number of institutions using documentary analysis.

Introduction: Yellow September (YS) is a Brazilian suicide prevention campaign implemented in 2015, however, its effectiveness in reducing mortality is still unknown. Materials and Methods: This is an ecologically interrupted time series study that analyses the evolution of suicide rates in Brazil between 2011 and 2019 and its association with the implementation of YS at a national level. Data was provided by the Mortality Information System. A segmented interrupted series regression analysis was performed, using a generalized linear Poisson model, with correction for seasonal trends. Results: There was an increase in the annual rates of suicide deaths between 2011 and 2019, with 4.99 and 6.41 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. The null hypothesis, that the YS did not change the historical trend of growth in suicides in Brazil after its implementation, was affirmed. However, there was an eventual significant increase of 6.2% in the risk of mortality in 2017 and of 8.6% in 2019. Discussion:The results are consistent with the literature, which proposes that campaigns focused solely on publications through the media generate unsound findings regarding the effective reduction in the number of deaths by suicide. Conclusions: The lack of initiative in multisectoral actions may explain the failure of YS on changing deaths by suicide, therefore the development of new lines of action focused on training professionals and expanding the care network could make it an effective instrument in reducing mortality from suicide.