Ghana sees huge jump in attempted suicides

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00:00Ghana's mental health authority says that it has seen a huge jump in the numbers of people trying

00:05to take their own lives this year. Most of the victims who succeeded in their attempts

00:10have been men. Our correspondent tells us more.

00:17In the first half of 2024, Ghana recorded a total number of 543 attempted suicide cases,

00:26out of which 81 were actually completed suicide. To put this in context, the entire

00:33of 2023 saw 594 attempted cases, with only about 48 being cases that were actually completed

00:44suicide. Ama Ando, not her real name though, is one of such persons. He tells me about the stigma

00:53that she's had to endure.

00:55When my mom caught me in the act, she slapped me. And they beat me, like, after that.

01:02And I think some people in our neighborhood had seen the act and had led to several stigma after

01:14that. So there's the small girl that wanted to disgrace her mom by killing herself.

01:20Ghana has recently decriminalized attempted suicide and set up a mental health authority

01:25to deal with the menace, but not without its own challenges.

01:28Suicide is a major concern in terms of emergencies and problems you have to deal with. And a vast

01:36majority of suicides are due to mental health challenges and distress. So it's a big concern

01:41to us, bearing in mind that Ghana is a low-middle-income country, and three quarters

01:46of all suicides occur in countries like Ghana.

01:49This year, awareness is being raised amongst Ghana's security services

01:53from where we understand the highest numbers of cases are being recorded.

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