Two mental health foundations have called on the government to decriminalise suicide in Ghana as a matter of urgency.
The mental health advocacy organisations, OtherslikemeGH and the DNAM Foundation, believe that this will help to tackle suicide in a holistic manner.
They made this call in an interview on Thursday’s Asaase Breakfast Show on the occasion of World Suicide Prevention Day.
Prevention is better than cure
World Suicide Prevention Day, which is observed on 10 September every year, seeks to create awareness of suicide as an everyday danger and of the devastation it creates.
Statistics from the World Health Organization in 2012 showed that over 800,000 people worldwide commit suicide annually. This equates to one suicide every 40 seconds.
This year’s programme of activities, which is on the theme “Working Together to Prevent Suicide”, seeks to rally stakeholders to play their part in addressing the problem.
Ernest Bentum, executive director of the DNAM Foundation, described the phenomenon as a global health crisis that demands urgent attention.
“We have a law in Ghana that has criminalised suicide attempts, and we believe this law does not make sense,’’ he said.
“How do you create a platform where people can’t speak out about the problems they have? [With this] law, how do we create a platform where we can put these things in our schools for people to express themselves?” he said.
National dialogue
Bentum is calling for a national dialogue on suicide in order to find solutions to the problem which decriminalise attempted suicide.
Speaking on the same programme, Dorcas Efe Mensah, the founder of OtherslikemeGH, cited sections of the law as very problematic.
“Actually, the law is saying when you start the process of suicide, you should complete it, else you will be arrested. It doesn’t make sense.
“A lot of young people are attempting suicide because they don’t have the right avenue to talk about what they are going through,” she said.
Meanwhile, Asaase Radio earlier reported that the Ghana Psychological Association has added its voice to the call to decriminalise attempted suicide.
The association wants the government to put in place safety nets to help reduce the phenomenon in Ghana.
Fred Dzakpata
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online.
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