Suicide: A serious public health concern

              

  Aditya Neupane                         

"With continuous failure in life despite trying my best for multiple times, I felt hopeless and I started seeing everyone around me as frauds. This void and continuous triggers eventually developed into an intense suicidal thought,” Ram KC (Name changed) remembers. KC was found numb in a dense forest by his parents after few hours of Ingesting pesticide as an attempt to erase his existence. After preliminary treatment he was hospitalized for two-weeks for treatment. "Now, I regret my decision but I have no regret with my life. Life is a continuous test of endurance and its vital for every human that they try their best to conquer problems." KC shared. 

Kc is an example, Nepal reported a total of 7,141 suicides in 2020-21. Out of which 3,928 were males, 2,449 were females and the rest were children. The national statistics of suicide is skyrocketing every-year. This year alone suicide increased by 14.2% as compared to last year. 

According to WHO, annually more than 700,000 people die due to suicide and 77% of them occur in low- and middle-income countries. This demonstrates that Nepal, a-lower-middle-income-country is also at the high risk of suicide. 

Head of Psychiatry Department of at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, DR Saroj Prasad Ojha said, "Almost 90% of suicides are associated with mental health issues." He attributed mental health as a major factor for suicide which shifts spotlight to the national level mental policies.  However, Nepal lacks proper large-scale-epidemiological-survey on mental health.  A small-scale-epidemiology-study conducted in 2013 shows that 37.5 percent of Nepal’s population suffers from mental disorders, which equates to 7,500,000 people (two in every five persons).

Despite being such a surging public health concern, Nepal lacks proper mental health policy. In 1996 mental health policy was formulated and was redrafted later in 2016, but there is no separate legislation on mental health yet. the final draft of mental health policy is still pending in the Ministry of Health for review.   

When asked, though there is no or a tiny effort from national level can't we do from civilian level to control suicide? Information officer of Mental Hospital, Ananta Adhikari informed, "Suicide are preventable and by encouraging understanding, and sharing experiences, we can boost confidence of people against suicide." 

Globally, suicide is the second leading cause of death among youngsters but most of the people don’t know that it is preventable. There are signs of suicidal tendency and if these signs are taken seriously and proper preventive measures are taken many lives can be saved. 

Signs of suicidal tendency are, staying alone, talking about suicidal interest, seeking lethal-materials, avoiding gatherings, increasing alcoholism, smoking and self-medication. 

But if you notice these signs among anyone people near you, you don’t need to panic just try proper preventive measures like taking professional help, encouraging social interactions, creating judgement-free environment, hiding lethal materials, not leaving those people alone who have suicidal thoughts and increasing awareness on suicide prevention. 

Photo:deviantart