Any death caused by taking one’s life deliberately amounts to suicide. Psychological Experts have attributed it to mental disorders, such as depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and alcohol and other substance abuse.
WHO has reported that suicide is the second leading cause of death among those between the ages of 15 and 29. A suicide occurs every 40 seconds and an attempt is made every 3 seconds (WHO).

Walking back time, suicide has always been a rare or rather unpopular incident admitted by Africans. Till date with the number of suicide cases headlined around Africa, they are still relatively lower than those in the western world.

We have observed that so much care, attention and urgent first aid treatment are normally given to people with sprained ankles, bleeding from sharp cuts etc. This is not the case with a suicide survivor or a suicide victim.
They are most times stigmatised and their problem a fall out of personal weakness instead of a serious health concern.

To justify the above views, we hit the street to poll different views on the subject of suicide. Some considered suicide as alien to our people and culture. They cited how resilient we are to endure tough times and rather die trying to make ends meet either by hook or by crook!

A different view disclosed that we may have had more suicide or suicidal attempt than we thought never happened. They further explained that most suicide or suicidal attempts may not have been reported but hidden due to societal stigma and religious backlash. Large number of Africans still consider suicide or its attempt to be “Un-African” even in the face of growing rate headline in all news and media platforms!

Another school of thought holding spiritual views described suicide attempts as witchcraft manipulation. They believe no normal person should commit suicide but influenced by African black magic!

We respect all views above but deem it necessary to examine the prevailing cases to shed more light. Currently the weird hands of suicide is fast sweeping through the continent growing the number of suicides and attempted suicide cases. Following the growing trend lately, we had to examine how worse suicide/suicidal attempt spate has thrived: to get a better sense of the current situation to analyse further.

To learn more, follow links below:

http://blog.africahsegroup.com/how-to-prevent-suicide-in-africa-the-introduction-the-issues-the-indicators/

http://blog.africahsegroup.com/how-to-prevent-suicide-in-africa-the-effects-the-causes-the-prevention/

There are other interesting articles on blog.africahsegroup.com. Please visit and learn more.

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