Changing the narrative on suicide

MANY news channels worldwide and nationally have reported numerous suicide cases in the past few months. Sadly, this is not a new occurrence. According to the World Health Organization, there is at least one suicide death every 40 seconds. The WHO 2024 Mental Health Atlas also reports that for every death by suicide, there are more than 20 suicide attempts. Among people aged 15 to 29 years, suicide is the second leading cause of death. All these facts point to a crisis globally and nationally.

 However, suicide is preventable. The majority of suicide cases are due to an underlying mental disorder, leading to people with severe mental health conditions having shorter life expectancies compared to the general population. Despite the significant burden of mental disorders and the increase in suicide cases, there is still a lot of stigma, discrimination, and inadequate attention to mental health in budgetary allocation.

 The current negative stereotypes around mental health assert that mental disorders are not treatable, attempted suicide is a crime, and a person with a mental disorder is unfit to work, have healthy relationships, and contribute to the community’s growth. All these put an extra burden on people with mental disorders, their caregivers, and families. Many families hide their relatives with mental illness or leave them to roam around as homeless people on the streets. The result is an increase in the rate of suicide cases in our society. With every reported suicide case, there is a call for help that wasn’t responded to or was silenced due to fear of stigma, as well as a lack of access to care.

 Every death by suicide is a preventable death, and the prevention is inherently linked to societal perception and action on suicide. The pervasive ignorance and lack of empathy/compassion for those living with mental illnesses simply has to change. It is time for us all to change the narrative on suicide across Nigeria.

 World Suicide Prevention Day, which is held every September 10, is a day set aside to create awareness around suicide and its prevention globally. The theme “Changing the Narrative on Suicide” calls on all of us—individuals, corporate bodies, organizations, and government parastatals—to reflect on the present narrative of mental health and collaborate to change the narrative. The aim is to eradicate the shame and stigma associated with suicidal behaviours and encourage empathy, help-seeking, and support for individuals with mental illness and their families.

 Asido Foundation (www.asidofoundation.com), since its inception in 2019, has been at the forefront of suicide prevention and mental health advocacy in Nigeria. Every year, we hold annual walks to raise awareness on suicide prevention. This year, we have held suicide prevention awareness walks across several cities in Nigeria, including Ibadan, Owerri, Maiduguri, and Lagos. These walks had over 500 volunteers and advocates raising public awareness on suicide prevention and reaching tens of thousands with the message.

 Beyond the suicide prevention awareness walks, we also have other targeted efforts towards suicide prevention. As part of the Suicide Prevention Advocacy Working Group led by Prof Taiwo Lateef Sheikh, we are pushing for the decriminalization of attempted suicide and the passage of the suicide prevention bill. To address the gap in mental health crisis identification, crisis intervention, and community support, we have trained over 1000 individuals in Psychological First Aid (PFA), organised 400 community dialogues, and impacted over 5,000,000 people across Nigeria through our mental health sensitization activities.

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 However, CSOs like Asido Foundation CANNOT do these alone. The achievement of the goals is hinged on targeted actions and efforts by individuals and all relevant stakeholders as well as institutional actions.

Call to Action

 Individuals must challenge themselves to combat ignorance with mental health education, pity with empathy, and indifference with action and support. We must ensure that we eradicate the pervasive and harmful ignorance about mental illnesses and end all inhumane treatments of affected individuals and their families. In addition, individuals and corporate organizations should also support non-profit organizations like Asido Foundation through donations and financial sponsorship of these activities.

 All relevant stakeholders, including the media, educational institutions, religious leaders, and community figures, must collaborate in reshaping the public narrative around mental health, especially suicide. This can be achieved through facilitating public education, advocating and lobbying for the decriminalization of suicide in Nigeria, and the implementation of institutional support for mental health.

 The government and relevant parastatals must also increase their attention and commitment to reinforcing mental health issues as a universal human right. Urgent needs include an increase in the budgetary allocation for mental health in the national budget, the decriminalization of suicide, and the implementation of the mental health bill.

 Aggressive and collaborative efforts of everyone will foster a society where there is zero mental health stigma and suicide. Every life is precious and irreplaceable. Will you not play your part in preventing suicide?