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Raymond Jaravaza
ALARMING suicide cases in the first quarter of the year — January to March — of 129 deaths have been released by the police, showing an increase in the number of people taking their own lives, mostly by hanging.
Last year during the same period 94 suicide cases were recorded with 74 ending their lives by hanging while 20 were victims of poisoning, mostly using pesticides.
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the majority of suicide cases were attributed to mental disorders and social problems experienced by the victims.
“In the first quarter of 2019, the police have recorded 129 cases of suicide, of which 87 were by hanging and 42 by poisoning. Most of these suicide cases are caused by social problems, which include marital problems, financial problems, as well as people suffering from mental illnesses,” said Assistant Commissioner Nyathi.
Substance abuse by youths has also been fingered as one of the contributing factors why young people end up taking their own lives.
“There are also cases of youths who engage in drug abuse and end up also committing suicide while in extreme cases there are youngsters that take their own lives for being reprimanded by parents or guardians,” he said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines suicide as the act of deliberately killing oneself.
Dr Printah Nkala of the Psychology and Counselling Department at the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) is of the view that the disintegration of the lineal family structure — an extended family unit with two or more generations — was one of the driving factors of suicides.
“The modern family structure is only concerned about the closest family members thus people with suicidal tendencies cannot find immediate help or someone to talk to about their problems thereby driving them to suicide.
“The role of the family in helping solve problems is now non-existent so people tend to keep problems to themselves and that is not helping the situation,” said Dr Nkala.
Dr Nkala says he was baffled by the outrageous conclusions made by society that suicide victims were always to blame for ultimately taking their own life.
“It’s very laughable when people blame the victim for committing suicide instead of looking at themselves in the mirror and asking what they would have done to assist, if possible, the deceased,” he said.
He believes that the first step to getting help for people with suicidal tendencies is accepting their life circumstances, talking to a confidante or seeking professional assistance.
According to the Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Obadiah Moyo, one million people in Zimbabwe suffer from mental and neurological disorders.
As part of efforts to address the problem, the Health Ministry is now in the process of establishing a drugs and alcohol abuse rehabilitative centre at Ingutsheni Central Hospital in Bulawayo.
The ministry is also spearheading the development of a Psycho Active Substance and Alcohol Policy to help reduce mental illnesses.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorder, especially depression, and neurological disorders, cancer and HIV infection.
Every year, almost one million people die from suicide, 86 percent of whom are in low/middle-income countries.
Suicide is also listed as one of the top three causes of death for young people under 25 years.
WHO 2017 figures show that Zimbabwe is ranked number 19 in the world in terms of deaths by suicide, with suicide deaths reaching 1 641 or 1,30% of total mortalities in the country.
As of 2017, it is estimated that around 30% of global suicides were due to pesticide self-poisoning, most of which occur in rural agricultural areas in poor countries.
Online Reporter