Suicide cases worsen

Two hundred and eighty one people have killed themselves in Malawi from January to June this year, The Daily Times has learned.

As early as January 10 this year, the issue of suicide was in the news when an 18-year-old man committed suicide in Dowa District.

Mponela Police Station spokesperson Macpatson Msadala identified the deceased as Hastings Chakufuma, adding that he killed himself in Nason Village.

“He left a note in which he indicated that he had killed himself because he was not happy that his aunt was not pleased with his multiple relationships,” he indicated.

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That way, Mkunkhu village, Traditional Authority Kaomba in Kasungu District, lost one of its productive citizens.

Less than two days later, it was Nkhata Bay District which was in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

Nkhata Bay Police Station spokesperson Kondwani James indicated that 19-year-old Mphatso Mwale of Katema Village, Senior Chief Mankhambira in Nkhata Bay, had committed suicide on January 12 this year.

Like in the first case, postmortem results indicated that death was due to suffocation secondary to strangulation.

What these cases, and others, meant was that Malawi was not doing enough to address the problem of rising cases of suicide.

This is because, the previous year, statistics from the Ministry of Health indicated that from January to November 2023, suicide cases increased to 366, up from 288 cases that were registered during the corresponding period in the year 2022.

To make matters worse, MPS records showed that cases of suicide had more than doubled in the five years prior to 2023, as they jumped from 128 in 2018 to 292 between January and December 2022.

This meant that the suicide rate in Malawi was at 11.6 per 100, 000 people, higher than the global average of 10.5 per 100, 000.

In the latest case, MPS has indicated that the problem is getting worse.

Writing on their official Facebook page, MPS deputy spokesperson Harry Namwaza indicated Thursday that the country has registered 281 suicide cases in six months.

He further indicated that out of the 281 cases, 246 of the deceased are male while 35 are female.

Police indicated that the cases are an increase from last year, when they recorded 220 cases within the corresponding period.

And, out of 220 suicide cases recorded during the corresponding period last year, 198 cases involved males while 22 cases were for females.

“Some factors contributing to the rise in suicide cases include debts, broken relationships, family conflicts and drug and substance abuse among the youths,” Namwaza said.

He said that police are therefore urging people who are facing challenges not to resort to suicide but instead seek counseling from trusted institutions or individuals.

Meanwhile, psychologist Professor Chiwoza Bandawe has said it is worrisome that the country continues to register cases of people who are terminating their lives.

“It is very worrying and it really shows that we have mental issues in the country. We need to intensely and seriously deal with the problem. We need to address stigma and recognise that it is not embarrassing [for one] to have mental issues.

“It is also a concern that most people do not want to deal with their challenges. Most men, for instance, do not want to open up on challenges they are encountering,” Bandawe said.

The psychologist further called for more training of clinical psychologists to offer psycho-social support to people who need such services.

“We need to invest [more money] in mental health professionals so that we can have more personnel available across the country. For example, at the moment we only have six psychiatrists against a population of 20 million people. Let us invest in training more psychiatrists and making them available in hospitals, schools and everywhere so that they are offered mental support,” he said.

On his part, Evangelical Association of Malawi Chairperson Bishop Mark Kambalazaza urged people not to resort to suicide.

“Yes, people are depressed; they are choked with all sorts of challenges and they do not see the reason to be alive.

“However, suicide should not be a solution and it is a sin before God. The government, church and all stakeholders should join hands in addressing the problem,” Kambalazaza said.

Experts agree that although the issue of suicide has often been regarded as a mental health-related one, suicide is complex and multifaceted, such that appropriate dissemination of information and the provision of resources are essential elements in its prevention.

As at now, Malawi only has one public mental health hospital, namely Zomba Mental Hospital, with the rest being privately owned facilities.

One of these is St John of God Hospitaller Services, which cannot be accessed by those without disposable income.

Additionally, many men do not believe in sharing problems with others, reportedly because they fear that they may be perceived as weak, a development that forces them to withdraw into the helplessness of silence.

Renowned psychologist Ndumanene Silungwe earlier observed that physical violence is given more attention than other forms of abuse such as neglect, despite having equal implications on people.

According to Silungwe, addressing all forms of abuse can help in reducing cases of depression, which is said to be a leading cause of suicide among people.

“Most importantly, we have to join hands to address the problem,” he said.

Two years ago, Bandawe observed that criminalising suicide keeps desperate people away from seeking the much-needed help.

He added that those with suicidal thoughts do not want to die but to be relieved from the pain.

Chiwoza, in a presentation titled ‘The Psychological Impact of Suicide Attempts’, said, among other things, the law continues to marginalise and stigmatise people with mental health issues, which is not the case with those suffering from other diseases, notably malaria and HIV and Aids-related complications, as they are neither arrested nor jailed as a deterrent measure.

“The threat of punishment keeps those with mental health problems in the shadows. This is one reason why 90 people [out of 100] of those in Africa who need mental health treatment do not get it. Suicide attempts are often cries for help, and counseling is effective in addressing the reasons why people attempt suicide, including depression, conflicts and breakups,” Chiwoza said.

Malawi retains the offence of attempted suicide under Section 229 of the Penal Code.

Those found guilty face a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment.

Several institutions have been asking the government to decriminalise attempted suicide, saying people who resort to it do not necessarily want to give up on life but, rather, access psychological services.

In 2021, the Parliamentary Committee on Health disclosed plans to push for the decriminalisation of suicide attempts as they border on mental illness.

Fortunately, Malawi has been developing a Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Among other things, the strategy seeks to provide platforms where people can seek help from trained personnel, who include psychosocial counsellors.

Director of Mental Health Services in the Ministry of Health Michael Udedi is on record to have said the reduction of suicide cases requires a multi-sectoral approach.

Udedi said current socio-economic challenges have to be managed so that people can develop coping mechanisms because failure to manage them makes some people lose hope.

According to the World Health Organisation, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among people aged between 15 and 29.

It adds that more than 700,000 people die due to suicide every year.

This means suicide remains an imminent threat to people’s wellbeing.