By Bonisile Makhubu
Everyone is an important entity when we talk about suicide: individuals, family members, friends, co-workers, community members, educators, religious leaders as well as politicians. Suicide happens every day, and suicide issues should be tackled on a daily basis.
The most important step is that ‘it starts with you’. Individuals should first realise that they need help and take the necessary measures.
Suicide Prevention Day is only one day when we maximise education on suicide issues, which are the actual act or an attempt. It is commendable that during this year’s commemoration, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has armed all and sundry with tools to assist in the fight against suicide, which are only here to complement efforts made by individuals facing challenges of hopelessness.
The newly designed suicide prevention resources are crucial for countries in Africa where the rate of suicide cases is still higher than the global average of nine people per 100,000 per year.
Some countries have criminalised suicide or an attempt to commit it. This makes the fight against suicide even more difficult and places the continent far from achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Reducing the global suicide rate by one-third by 2030.
Among these countries is Eswatini, a kingdom in southern Africa, whose 1.2 million population faces the suicide threat due to various reasons, including personal history, mental health, lifestyle habits, employment status and relationships.
The youth
This country ranks among the top 10 countries with the highest suicide cases. In its report, the World Bank states that Eswatini is second after Lesotho in the continent. The two countries have a suicide mortality rate of 72.4 and 29.4 per 100,000, respectively. The million-dollar question is why?
Eswatini is one country that is usually a step behind in dealing with mental health issues formulating and implementing legislation. While in most countries, suicide is treated with cognizance that there are sometimes mental issues lying behind it, in Eswatini suicide victims and attempted suicide survivors are viewed as criminals rather than people who need help.
Many students often fail to seek help when facing financial challenges at college or university. Instead, they resort to suicide.
In 2022, about 40 out-of-school youths from Eswatini’s industrious towns attempted to commit suicide because of failure to pay for their education.
Recently, the Director of an NGO, Swatini Action Against Abuse, SWAGAA, Nonhlanhla Dlamini, pointed out that social media has set very high life standards for young people. With its power of influence, it seems to drive most young people to use it as a benchmark for their living standards.
Sexual violence is also seen as a main driver of suicide especially among young females who often do not report cases of abuse against them due to stigma. A Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) that was conducted in 2022 states that action is rarely taken when cases of sexual violence are reported.
The WHO’s sweetest promise is that the policy brief, “also sets out how decriminalization saves lives by reducing the stigma and shame associated with suicide and promoting an environment where people feel able to seek help; allowing for improved data collection on suicide and suicide attempts which can better inform appropriate interventions; and by increasing opportunities for awareness-raising and advocacy around suicide prevention.”
Media role
The country and the entire African continent can leverage these tools to deal with its bottlenecks, one of which is the Homicide Act of 1959, section 4 for Eswatini, which classifies suicide as a crime.
The argument is that it is an unenforceable criminal act because the suspect would already be dead, but the police insist laws are there to be enforced.
Many people who end up committing suicide have previously attempted to do it once or more times before, experts say.
WHO Technical Officer Nathalie Drew Bold is of the view that criminalising suicide only serves to exacerbate people’s distress. He suggests that governments should take a critical step to decriminalise suicide or suicide attempts in order to prevent it.
The media, with its power to hold to account, educate, inform and transmit information, should take up its role to enlighten people on the need to speak out if they have problems; to get someone to speak to; and to get relatives and family members to take suicide threats and suicide thought seriously.
“Media professionals can help minimise imitative behaviors through accurate, appropriate, and empathetic reporting on suicide, and encourage people to seek vital help,” said Dr Alexandra Fleischmann, Scientist at WHO.
The author, Bonisile Makhubu, is a journalist based in Eswatini.
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT Afrika.
