WHO Urges Africa To Prioritize Suicide Prevention

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has launched a social media campaign to raise awareness on mental health illness, believed to account for up to 11 per cent of risk factors associated with suicide.

In a statement on Thursday, WHO stated that Africa had the highest suicide rate in the world, calling on governments to make suicide prevention a priority and to reverse the worrying statistics.

“Every death by suicide is a tragedy,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa said, noting that the suicide prevention is rarely a priority in national health programmes.

Ahead of World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, she called for “significant investment…to tackle Africa’s growing burden of chronic diseases and non-infectious conditions – such as mental disorders – that can contribute to suicide.”

According to WHO, mental health problems affect 116 million people in the African region, up from 53 million in 1990.

The continent also has six of the top 10 countries for suicide in the world, while the agency also noted that for each suicide in Africa, there were an estimated 20 suicide attempts.

WHO said despite the urgency of the problem, African governments allocated less than 50 cents per person to treat mental health problems