The Nigeria Suicide Prevention Advocacy Group has called for a holistic approach to prevent and address the determinants of suicide in the country.
The Deputy Director, of Clinical Psychology, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Dr Oluwatosin Adekeye made the call at the 2nd Virtual Meeting of the Group on the title: “Determinants of Suicidality in Nigeria.”
Adekeye called for the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders to address the determinants of suicide, saying that effective prevention and intervention require a multilayered approach.
He said that the increasing rate of suicide and its corresponding devastating effects made it pertinent for stakeholders including governments, families, policy-makers and organisations to collectively look at the issue to address it.
According to him, suicide is a behaviour motivated by the desire to escape unbearable psychological pain.
He identified psychological risk factors of suicide to include bullying, social rejection, quality of life and lack of care, saying that sadness, anxiety and hopelessness were the key causative factors of suicide in Nigeria.
Adekeye, who called for increased advocacy on suicide, and provision of support through prevention and treatment, emphasised the need for decriminalisation of suicide to pave the way for effective suicide prevention and control in Nigeria.
“Effective prevention and intervention require a multilayered approach that encompasses community engagement, healthcare service enhancement and robust policy support.
“Hence, the need for a social support system and education of the populace on the psychological determinants of suicide and how to cope with them,” he said.
Speaking, a Consultant Psychiatrist, Prof. Jibril Abdulmalik, identified gender as a biological risk factor for suicide, saying there was a strong genetic history in connection to suicide.
Abdulmalik, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, at UCH Ibadan, said that men were at higher risk of suicide than women.
According to him, men tend to commit suicide four times more than women.
A Social Worker at the Federal Medical Centre, Kano, Abubakar Bichi, said that poverty and unemployment had become the major economic factors affecting suicidality in Nigeria.
Bichi, also the National President of, the Association of Medical Social Workers of Nigeria (AMSWON), said the burden of economic pressures such as debt, inability to meet daily needs and uncertainty about the future could lead to increased levels of stress and anxiety, leading to suicide.
He decried that mental health services were barely available in the rural communities, as the country only has six Federal Psychiatric hospitals located in the urban cities.
“Mental Health, though, might be a long term health condition, is treatable that an individual with the condition can live a normal life.
“Unfortunately, in many Nigeria communities, mental health issues are often stigmatised and perceived as sign of weakness.
“The social and economic determinants are the major causative factors of mental health conditions and suicide in Nigeria, hence the need to address them.
“The Government should implement mental health policies and laws and provide the enabling environment for the citizens to be meaningfully engaged.
“Let there be more job opportunities so that people will gainfully be employed and the basic amenities be made available,” Bichi said.
The Medical Director, of Federal Neuro-psychiatric Hospital Maiduguri, Prof. Ibrahim Wakawa said there was a need for a public pronouncement by the Federal Ministry of Health that suicide has become a public health pandemic.
According to him, there is a need for proper control and monitoring of the means of access to suicide like snipper, by the relevant authorities.
He noted that poverty alleviation needed to be considered a priority if significant achievement would be made in its prevention in Nigeria.
Earlier, the Group Coordinator, Prof. Taiwo Sheikh said that mental health, including it’s determinants, affects millions of people across Africa, adding that stigma and cultural misconceptions often compound these issues.
In his welcome speech, Sheikh, also a consultant psychiatrist, said that insufficient public spending on mental health and prevention was a major barrier to assisting those in need.
According to him, effective prevention can only take place through a whole-of-society approach that involves the government, civil society organisations and community leaders.
NAN
