INSTITUTE’S WORRYING SNAPSHOT OF REGION’S COUNTRIES

▶ Suicide, violence and health are big concerns. Taimur Khan reports

Suicide, murder, rape and mental-health conditions are skyrocketing in a stretch of Muslim-majority countries from Morocco to Pakistan, many of which have been racked by violence and conflict.

A study covering data from the past 25 years shows soaring rates of death by suicide or at the hands of others. In 2015 alone about 30,000 people committed suicide, while 35,000 were murdered.

The figures do not include deaths in places that are at war, such as Syria and Iraq, and represent increases of 100 per cent and 152 per cent respectively since 1990.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

“In other parts of the world during the same period, the number of deaths from suicide increased 19 per cent and interpersonal violence by 12 per cent,” said a report in the International Journal of Public Health.

The researchers also found a “sharp increase” in mental-health conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

“Intractable and endemic violence is creating a lost generation of children and young adults,” said Dr Ali Mokdad, the study’s lead author and the director for Middle Eastern Initiatives at IHME. “The future of the Middle East is grim unless we can find a way to bring stability to the region.”

The research showed that the wars in Yemen, Iraq and Syria are taking a severe toll on the health of the population in those countries. Not only are the effects immediate but “these events will lead to increased health burden in the future as the next generation is being raised under the harsh conditions of malnutrition and lack of preventive health services.”

Yemen has the highest proportion of its population suffering from food insecurity, at 36 per cent.

The geographical area in the study has endured conflict for decades. An estimated 208,179 people were killed by war, suicide and murder in 2015, of which 144,000 died in war. But violence and associated psychological disorders are not the only alarming findings about the region’s health trends.

“In recent years, many of the health gains for some countries have slowed and several health conditions that were under control are re-emerging,” Dr Mokdad said. “The future health of the region is in danger.”

Even the wealthiest per capita countries of the GCC will be affected, directly or indirectly, by the effect of climate change. Some of the countries “face significant environmental challenges due to lack of water, rising temperatures, and sandstorms,” the study found. Air pollution also needs to be addressed.

The overall level of obesity in the Eastern Mediterranean has increased by 37 per cent since 1980, the study found, with obesity most prevalent in Qatar and Kuwait.

Child mortality also fell more slowly than the global rate in many of the 22 countries in the study. Sudan, Pakistan and Afghanistan are in the top 10 for child mortality and 80 per cent of all child deaths occurred there and in Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

Even the wealthiest per capita countries of the GCC will be affected, directly or indirectly, by climate change