The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday launched a campaign to raise awareness and encourage suicide prevention in Africa, where the suicide death rate is the highest in the world in 2022.
In a press release published on the UN website on Thursday, October 6, the African branch of the UN’s world health agency said that around 11 out of 100,000 people kill themselves on the African continent while the world average is nine cases of suicide per 100,000 inhabitants. Africa is home to six of the ten countries with the highest suicide rates in the world.
Hanging and poisoning by pesticides are the means most used by people who commit suicide, followed by drowning, the use of a firearm, diving into a vacuum or overdosing on medication. One in 20 suicide attempts actually ends in death, studies show.
“Suicide is a major public health problem and every suicide is a tragedy. Unfortunately, suicide prevention is rarely a priority in national health programs,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti.
WHO-Africa explains that this situation is partly due to the limited means of action available to treat and prevent risk factors, in particular mental disorders, which currently affect 116 million people in Africa, against 53 million in 1990. She specifies that mental health problems represent up to 11% of the risk factors associated with suicide.
The African section of the UN body deplores the low investment in mental health services, pointing out that governments allocate on average less than 50 cents per capita in the matter. In terms of mental health professionals, most of whom work in urban centers, the continent has one psychiatrist for every 500,000 inhabitants, which is 100 times lower than the WHO recommendation.
For Moeti, “significant investments must be made to tackle the growing burden of chronic diseases and non-infectious diseases such as mental disorders that can lead to suicide in Africa”.
Regarding the campaign itself, WHO-Africa aims to reach 10 million people on social media. It is also about raising awareness among the general public on how to identify and help people in need and helping to fight the stigma associated with suicide, epilepsy, mental disorders and alcohol or drug abuse, the statement said.
And to add, the campaign is also an opportunity to draw the attention of African countries to the under-investment of governments, which is the main obstacle to the provision of mental health services adapted to the needs.
A new strategy to scale up mental health care and set targets for 2030 was endorsed last August by African health ministers at the seventy-second session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa . The press release stresses that by this deadline, all countries will have to have a mental health policy or legislation.
By OMA Newsletter N° 886 of 07/10/2022
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
