One person dies every 40 seconds through suicide, and more people die by suicide every year across the world, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which said countries, Nigeria inclusive, need to do more to stop these preventable deaths as the world marks World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD), September 10.
Experts say in Nigeria suicide is more of a social and public health objective than a traditional exercise in the mental health sector.
A health industry expert says, “Mental health professionals, doctors and counsellors can be reached out to manage suicidal tendencies. The proactive steps taken by several such professionals in the capacity of leaders has helped and has the potential to help save thousands of lives.
“Occurrence of suicide tends to be under-reported and misclassified due to both traditional and social pressures, and possibly completely unreported in some areas.”
According to data from the 2018 Global Suicide rate report by World Population Review, “Nigeria ranks 71 out of 177 countries accounting for 9.9 suicides per 100,000 populations of deaths annually.”
Nigeria, however, reported cases of suicide rate in the country has seen numbers at the double by poisoning using pesticides as one of the most effective ways to commit suicide, the WHO says, as it urges governments to adopt suicide prevention plans to help people cope with stress and to reduce access to suicide means.
The WHO says restricting access to pesticides is one of the most effective ways of reducing suicide numbers swiftly.
Pesticides are commonly used and usually result in death because they are so toxic, have no antidotes, and are often used in remote areas where there is no nearby medical help.
The WHO points to studies in Sri Lanka, where bans on pesticides have led to a 70 percent drop in suicides and an estimated 93,000 lives saved between 1995 and 2015.
“Suicides are preventable,” says Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general. “We call on all countries to incorporate proven suicide prevention strategies into national health and education programmes.”
The WHO’s report states that suicide is a global public health issue. All ages, sexes and regions of the world are affected (and) each loss is one too many.
Suicide was the second leading cause of death among young people aged between 15 and 29, after road injury, and among teenage girls aged 15 to 19 it is the second -leading cause of death among girls (after maternal conditions) and the third-leading cause of death in boys, after road injury and interpersonal violence.
WHO said close to 800,000 people die by suicide every year, more than those lost to malaria, breast cancer, or war and homicide, calling it a “serious global public health issue.” It said only 38 countries had suicide prevention strategies.
Suicide rates were higher than the global, age-standardised average — 10.5 per 100,000 people — in Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Worldwide, more men killed themselves than women, WHO said, with 7.5 suicide deaths per 100,000 women and 13.7 suicides per 100,000 men. The only countries where the suicide rate was estimated to be higher in women than men were Bangladesh, China, Lesotho, Morocco, and Myanmar.
“While 79% of the world’s suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries, high-income countries had the highest rate, at 11.5 per 100,000” people, WHO said.
“Nearly three times as many men as women die by suicide in high-income countries, in contrast to low- and middle-income countries, where the rate is more equal,” the WHO statement said.
However, Other steps the WHO said have helped reduce suicides include educating the media on how to report responsibly on suicide, identifying people at risk early and helping young people build skills that help them cope with life stresses.
