Men more likely to commit suicide
Country needs a national suicide prevention policy, depression group says
Men in SA are more than four times more likely to commit suicide than women, according to a new report by the World Health Organisation.
Men in SA are more than four times more likely to commit suicide than women, according to a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The report, “Preventing Suicide: a Resource For Pesticide Registrars and Regulators”, says that almost 800,000 people die from suicide every year globally, or one every 40 seconds.
The World Health Organisation has prioritised suicide prevention as it claims more lives than “malaria, breast cancer, or war and homicide”. The data paints a worrying picture for SA, especially for men.
In 2016, the year on which the data is based, SA recorded 6,476 suicides, a rate of 12.8 people per 100,000. The report says that the global age-standardised rate was 10.5 per 100,000.
However, of greater concern was the rate among men. Of the more than 6,000 suicides, 5,138 were men, a rate of 21.8 per 100,000, compared to a suicide rate of just more than five women per 100,000.
The SA Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag), which operates the country’s only suicide helpline, has received 145,000 calls to its 22 lines so far in 2019.
“The majority of our callers are from females, however, some of our more acute or emergency cases are from male callers, especially since men use more aggressive methods of suicide,” said Sadag’s operations director, Cassey Chambers.
Such methods include firearms or hanging, said Chambers, while women are more likely to use pills or poison.
Monday marked World Suicide Prevention Day and Sadag has reiterated its call for better education, improved prevention measures, and an end to the stigma around suicide.
“Especially in [an] SA context where there isn’t even a Zulu word for depression, and men [especially black men] are brought up with the culture that ‘cowboys don’t cry’, men don’t seek help for their depression before it is too late,” Chambers said.
As calls to the suicide helpline are on the increase every month, Chambers stressed the need for a national suicide prevention policy.
SA recorded the fourthhighest suicide rate in the Southern African Development Community, with higher suicide rates occurring in Eswatini, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
The report found most suicides (79%) occurred in lowand middle-income countries. These countries are home to 84% of the world’s population. The suicide rate, however, was higher among developed countries (11.5 per 100,000).
The World Health Organisation also said “hanging, pesticide self-poisoning, and firearms” were the most common methods of suicide.
Pesticides are considered a key concern as attempts often result in death, especially when there is no antidote or a health facility nearby.
In Sri Lanka, the organisation explained, a ban on pesticides led to a 70% drop in suicides between 1995 and 2015. In South Korea, a ban on the herbicide paraquat caused suicides from pesticide poisoning to halve between 2011 and 2013.
The World Health Organisation has again called for more urgent measures to prevent suicide. Measures that have shown the most success include, “Restricting access to means; educating the media on responsible reporting of suicide; implementing programmes among young people to build life skills that enable them to cope with life stresses; and early identification, management and follow-up of people at risk of suicide”.
“We need to do more to address and prevent suicide no-one should feel like they are helpless, hopeless and that the only solution to their problems would be suicide. Suicide can be prevented,” Chambers said.
[ESPECIALLY BLACK MEN] ARE BROUGHT UP WITH THE CULTURE ‘COWBOYS DON’T CRY’, AND DON’T SEEK HELP BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE