By Dorothy Frances Ward
Kumasi, Sept. 12. GNA – The Ghana Mental Health Authority (MHA) has called for proactive action and measures by all stakeholders to prevent the incidence of suicides and manage suicide behaviours.
It says awareness creation and education programmes about suicide have become more critical now than ever since more people were now being driven to choose suicide when they encountered personal issues.
A statement signed by Professor Akwasi Osei, the Chief Executive of Mental Health Authority, to mark the global suicide prevention day and made available to the Ghana News Agency, said the global statistics that someone dies of suicide every 40 seconds must be a thing of the past.
This year’s day, which was marked on the theme “a renewed worldwide commitment to preventing suicide; creating hope through action”, aimed at raising public awareness on the risk factors and triggers of suicide and how to deal with them.
In 2018, suicide attempts in Ghana were 797 and rose to 880 in 2019 and marginally dropped to 777 in 2020.
By June 2021, attempted suicides were 417 and increased to 902 by the end of that year, whiles those who completed suicide went up from 69 in 2020 to 86 in 2021.
Some are not also reported due to fear of being stigmatised and fear of community repercussions.
The statement stressed the need for the country to repeal laws criminalising suicide attempts from the criminal code.
It also called on organisations to protect their important human resource by promoting and integrating mental health interventions into their work culture.
This is because all workers are at risk of experiencing some mental health challenges at some point in time.
The statement advised the public to take every opportunity and learn about suicide and its warning signs and how they could help someone in distress and seek professional help for the individual.
It called for a unified effort by all to deal with the menace.
GNA