Every 10th of September has been declared World Suicide Prevention day, this is organized by the International Association for suicide prevention and co-sponsored by WHO as one of the policies to prioritize suicide prevention and awareness of suicide as a public health issue.
Suicide is defined as the act of deliberately taking one’s life. A person who tries to take his or her life can be said to have made a suicidal attempt. About 800,000 people die yearly by suicide. Worldwide, suicide is the second leading cause of death for people within the ages of 15–29 years. In 2012, approximately, 75% of global suicides occurred in low and middle income countries, as an example, in 2015, 34 farmers and structural laborers in India took their lives everyday. Nevertheless, suicide does not result from economic distress because in south korea which is one of the most developed countries in the world with the 11th highest gross domestic product as at 2016 still had a staggering rate of 32 per 100,000 in 2015 — — — — highest rate in the developed world.
This is saddening, as it indicates that no single factor is responsible for suicide. The cause of suicide can therefore be tagged complex and multifactorial because currently, the causes of suicide are poorly understood. For over 15years, suicide was thought to be a result of mental disorder but recently, we have realized that although suicide is often associated with psychiatric disorder, it is however not restricted to it.
There are indications that for each person who dies by suicide, there may have been more than 20 others attempting suicide and also everyone who has taken his/her life by suicide at one time or the other visited the health care system a year before.
How then do we prevent this menace from happening in our country?
Although based on the survey carried out by IASP (International Association for Suicide Prevention) and the Department of mental health and substance abuse of WHO in 2013 which showed that no country in the African region, have devised a national strategy plan to prevent suicide, the WHO, has however created effective and evidence based interventions which can be implemented at population, sub-population and individual levels to prevent suicide and suicidal attempts. Such interventions include:
· Implementation of mental health policies by the government, such as world suicide prevention day and world mental health day celebrated on 10th of September and 10th of October respectively.
· Implementation of policies to reduce harmful use of alcohol
· Restriction of access to means- which includes: self-poisoning with pesticides, hanging and Jumping.
· Responsible media reporting.
· Raising awareness about mental health and substance abuse.
In a country like ours, where the health of the masses is hardly a priority, some of these interventions may be of little relevance but we can help by creating more public awareness, supporting others by building strong interpersonal relationships with one another.
It is a fact that suicidal people are often ambivalent about living or dying. Someone may act impulsive by drinking pesticides, for instance, and die a few days later even though they would like to live on. Access to emotional support at the right time can prevent suicide.
Thanks for reading.
References
World Health Organization .Preventing suicide: A global imperative. 2014
World Health Organization. suicide prevention. 2019
www.nimh.nih.gov Suicide in America: Frequently Asked Questions.
Allison C.Nugent, Elizabeth D. Ballard, Lawrence T. Park and Carlos A. Zarate Jr. Research on the pathophysiology, treatment, and prevention of suicide: practical and ethical issues. BMC psychiatry (2019) 19:332
www.nimh.nih.gov Science News About Suicide Prevention.
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