Nasarawa State Government says it’s working towards making mental health services accessible at the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in the state.
The Nasarawa State Commissioner for Health, Dr Gaza Gwamna stated this at a symposium to commemorate the 2024 World Suicide Prevention Day on Tuesday in Lafia.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr John Damina, the commissioner said that suicide, a major outcome of mental health challenges had become a public health concern.
He noted that suicidal tendency and suicide had been identified as illnesses that could be prevented or treated like every other ailment, hence the need for concerted effort from stakeholders in that direction.
The Nasarawa State commissioner said that the collaboration of partners and stakeholders in creating awareness and taking mental health services to the people in the communities, would go a long way to address the rising cases of suicide.
He said that the state government would continue to prioritise the health of citizens including their mental wellbeing, and called for more collaboration from partners.
“This is a situation that affects everyone in the society and we all have our part to play in helping those suffering mental health,” he said.
Also speaking, the Director, Public Health in the ministry, Dr Ibrahim Adamu, said that the symposium organised in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), was to sensitise stakeholders on the prevalence of suicide in the society.
Adamu said that the maiden edition of the symposium by ministry was a wake up call to a stakeholders to contribute their quota in line with the theme for the year 2024 – Change the Narrative.
He pointed out that lack of awareness, stigmatisation and criminalisation of suicide was doing more harm, given the fact that attempted suicide had been identified a disease, to which victims needed help.
He maintained that every incident of suicide and mental health concern affect everyone in the society and not necessarily the victims alone, hence the need for stakeholders to create awareness and collaborate in order to tackle the menace of suicide in the society.
On his part, the resource person, Dr Paul Agbo, a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH), LAFIA, identified stigmatisation, criminalisation, spiritualisation, secrecy and lack of proper awareness as militating factors against addressing the menace of suicide.
Agbo said reports had shown that about 800,000 persons die globally every from suicide, noting that Nigeria fell within the suicide belt in the world.
He noted that 90 per cent of persons who die from suicide globally experienced a mental health condition, thus establishing a link between mental illness and suicide
He maintained that for there to be a change in the narrative, people must change their attitude towards mental health and suicide by treating them as public health issues that required medical help.
According to Agbo, financial constraints and marital conflicts have been identified as the most common triggers for suicide in Nigeria.
He urged Nigerians to always look out for signs of depression that could lead to suicide and offer help by refering patients to hospitals rather than attributing spirituality to the situation.
The consultant psychiatrist also cautioned against media reports that tend to glamorise suicide cases, which could lead to imitation by other with such tendencies.
Agbo advocated for government to give more attention to mental health issues in the communities through training and deployment of personnel, as well as provision of psychiatric drugs in form of drugs revolving fund in PHCs for easy accessibility by those in rural communities.
The symposium had in attendance participants from the Nigerian Correctional Service, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the media amongst other stakeholders.
NAN
