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Curbing The Rampant Spate Of Ghanaian Youth Suicides

By Abraham Frank Eshun
Opinion Curbing The Rampant Spate Of Ghanaian Youth Suicides
MAR 27, 2017 LISTEN

Under no circumstance should you ever commit suicide even if your peer pressure, your culture, your failures, life situations, exam results, medical issues, court issues, admissions, setbacks, breach of confidence among others or your society dictate you to do so.

In recent years, it is very alarming that there is incessant increase of suicides menace among Ghanaians especially the youth in the country in which there is the needs to be checked to save souls because “In the past if you heard someone attempting suicide or committing suicide, it’s a 40, 50 or 60 year old person. Now 11, 12 13 year olds are attempting suicide” according to the Chief Executive of the Mental Health Authority, Dr. Akwesi Osei.

Just last 6th march, 2017 we celebrated our 60th anniversary as a country to commemorate our founding fathers for their immense contribution towards our independence and the development of our nation Ghana.

The question here is, what are we doing so that in future, that generation can also celebrate for? It seems like our future leaders who will be the custodian to our country in future, are now killing themselves through suicide which endangers our generational heritage and development as a country.

The reason being that the increasing rate at which Ghanaian youth involved in suicide incidents is becoming rampant and therefore setting alarm bells for immediate pragmatic action to be taken in order to curb the spate in a sense that according to the Network for Anti-suicide and Crisis Prevention reveal that about 531 youngsters between the ages of 9 and 19 kill themselves over a year through suicide which is unacceptable by a developing country like Ghana.

THE CURRENT SUICIDE CASES IN THE COUNTRY
It seems the situation is becoming out of hand in a sense that within two weeks, I can make reference to several of such terrible and disheartens incidents like the 18-year-old petrochemical engineering student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Adwoa Anyimadu-Antwi who was the daughter of an MP at Asanti Akim Central Constituency who left a suicide note with her alleged own hand writing apologizing to her parents for not living up to their standard On February 28, 2017, that was published in the newspapers.

According to Hon. Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi the father, in expressing his disappointment about the daughter’s suicide incident said, “As of now, I have tried hard to find answers to the puzzle as to why my daughter could die in such a tragic manner because we provided everything for her and make sure she was always happy. She was my best friend.”

We can also refer to Barbara Asante from Akim Tafo a junior high school student of the Child of Hope Preparatory School at Akyem Osiem in the Eastern Region who also committed suicide that was published in Daily Graphic on 11th March, 2017, Babara Asante was found hanging from a rope in the kitchen of her family’s residence at Akim Tafo that brought wretchedness on the people of Tafo and the country as a whole for a 15 year girl to die in that state.

Moreover, a level 400 student of the University of Ghana, Jennifer Nyarko who felt to her death after jumping from the fourth floor of Akuafo Hall residence on March 8, 2017 morning incidents also come to mind with a similar shocking heartrending scene.

We cannot also fail to recall another similar incident of suicide at Ashaiman Jericho Municipality of the Greater Accra Region where a man, believed to be in his thirties, was found hanging on a neem tree (Botanical Name:Azadirachta indica ) at a site near the Ashaiman irrigation development area.

In another related development, a 30 year old driver james Ayiem, who was also found hanging on a mango tree (Botanical Name: Mangifera indica) near Presbyterian Church at peace town at half-Assini in the Western Region.

It is also impossible to eliminate another suicide incident that occurred at a resident of Ekye Amanfrom in the eastern region where her name was only given as Leticia in the current rampant suicides in the country now.

In conclusion I can emphatically state that within only two weeks at least seven suicide incidents has been committed in the different location within the country which is extremely alarming and frustrating for a country to lose such royal human resource with such a shortest possible time that needs to be checked.

CAUSES OF SUICIDES
Then, here comes the question of the causes of such an evil phenomenon comes in mind. Some spectators have attributed this unacceptable phenomenon to the media that the media is the culprit in this matter that the news of suicide is certainly newsworthy and in their reportage, they use language that sensationalizes or normalized suicide as well as using explicit description of methods used in suicide, that served as a form of educating public on how to cause suicide.

They added that the media did not exercise caution in using photograph or video footages and also did not take a particular care in reporting celebrity suicide whilst in a related development, did not provide information about where to seek help in that critical situation in their reportage.

Another guideline of World Health Organization in preventing suicide for media professionals is to avoid prominent placements and undue repetitions of stories about suicide and avoiding detailed information about the site of completed or attempted suicides.

Others have an opinion that there is lack of centers for troubled teenagers to go and seek help even when they express such a suicidal tendencies.

Others observed that youth unemployment, adolescent victims of physical and sexual abuse, and conflicts of parents with the law and physical disability of the teenagers are also a contributing factor. In addition, failure in examination and the feeling of being despised by friends and blood relations also lead to teenage suicide.

There are also some causes of teenage suicide which has been noted in several research works, including the separation of parents, divorce leading to break up of family, intimate relationships with partners against parental wishes, loss of intimate friends or close relative in the family, alcoholism, frequent quarrels in the family, Confusion about who to see and what advice to take especially in religious practices for example is also a contributing factor. For example there are certain issues instead of going to see a doctor, one will go and see a pastor and vice versa.

According to Dr Dan-Bright Dzorgbo, Head of the Sociology Department of the University of Ghana also attributed the causes of suicide as a result of social inequality due to the wide gap between the rich and the poor and explained that even though Ghana could be classified as a lower middle-income country, only few people in the country were economically satisfied, leaving majority to wallow in abject poverty.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF SUICIDE
From the Biblical perspective, there are eight suicides mentioned in the Old Testament, two in the Apocrypha, and one in the New Testament. But, none of the passages in the Bible, describing these suicides, makes any adverse comments on the morality of these acts. Throughout the New Testament, there are frequent reminders to the faithful that earthly life is of little importance (for example, “I put no value on my life”, Paul tells us in Acts 20.24). Unfortunately, a religion which preaches that life on this planet is a vale of tears, a prelude to a better afterlife, would seem to be inviting its adherents to kill themselves. In fact, suicide among the early Christians became increasingly popular and began to threaten the very existence of the Christian Church. Therefore, in the fourth century AD, persuaded by the arguments of Augustine, a strict prohibition of suicide was adopted and, it became a mortal sin.

Taking ancient times also into consideration, suicide was not regarded as a cultural taboo. The Ancient Egyptians saw suicide as a means of dying to end both physical and emotional suffering. Socrates was the first individual to discuss the morality surrounding suicide and no specific judgment was attached to this form of death. The increasing social stigma tied to suicide was more obvious as a result of religious, civil and criminal persecutions, during the middle ages. The proper burial of a person who committed suicide was not allowed and the custom of disgracing the body of the deceased was a common practice. Other practices included dragging the body in the streets, placing the head on a pole outside the city as warning to others, or for animals to feed. During the next era of the Renaissance, as well as during the 17th 15 and 18th centuries, the rise of intellectual currents challenged the ancient views and attitudes towards suicide. Suicide became a matter of interest and many writers like Shakespeare reminded society that suicide was a part of everyday life.

In the 21st Century, suicide has become offensive, intolerable and unendurable around the globe and therefore, a pragmatic measures should put in place to curb such disheartening Phenomenon in our society especially at this era in Ghana, where this menace seem to be extremely escalated among our youth.

THE CURBING STRATEGIES
The burden of suicide does not weigh solely on the health sector; it has multiple impacts on many sectors in society as a whole. Thus, to start a successful journey towards the prevention of suicide, Ghana should employ a multi sectorial approach that addresses suicide in a comprehensive manner.

The Ministry of Health has a critical role to play in providing leadership and in bringing together stakeholders from other sectors in the country to help coordinate across sectors including education, public and private media, justice, labour, social welfare, religion, transportation and agriculture to effectively engage them in suicide prevention activities to curb suicide in Ghana.

The way forward is to act together, and the time to act is now and therefore, I call upon all stakeholders to make suicide prevention an imperative in all action plans in Ghana because every single life lost to suicide is one too many of us as citizens.

What I know is that Suicides are preventable and for national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multi-sectorial suicide prevention strategy is needed. An effective strategy for preventing suicides and suicide attempts is to restrict access to the most common means, including pesticides, firearms and certain medications and therefore Ghana Health Services needs to incorporate suicide prevention as a core component in its all activities to cub the situation.

Mental disorders and harmful use of alcohol contribute too many suicides around the world including Ghana and early identification and effective management are keys to ensure that people receive the care they needed from depression.

In other words, Communities must also play a critical role in suicide prevention and they can provide social support to vulnerable individuals and engage in follow-up care, fight stigma and support those bereaved by suicide.

It is also important to strengthen the guidance and counseling units in every education institution by the government in order to compromise effective intermittent counseling services to students and also the religious bodies should incorporate counseling and guidance to their congregation periodically to manage depression among members.

The parent and guidance who served as a direct agent of socialization should always pay extreme attention to their wards and they should become their friends at home so that the affection, love and cooperation will serve as a sense of belongingness and certain disturbing and pressing personal issues can also be shared to deter the rate of suicidal incidents.

The entire country should also send this to prayers since prayers can remove mountains and all obstacles because there is a believe that some of this menace has a spiritual connotations for the protection of God as Hon. Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi the father of Adwoa Anyimadu-Antwi said. “One thing I have learnt from the death of my daughter is that this unfortunate incident could happen to anybody or any family and that as parents we need to constantly pray for our children in school so that such things do not befall them,” .

By Abraham Frank Eshun
[email protected]/[email protected]

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