As suicide is considered to be a major cause of death in Bangladesh, a large number of suicide incidents can be escaped if families, friends and colleagues can detect suicidal ideation or phantasm and resort to counseling beforehand, experts say. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among tenneage girls and the third leading cause of death among boys. It is the second top reason of death among young people aged 15-29 years.
One person dies in every 40 seconds from suicide globally, about 4 million women and men commit suicide worldwide every year, states a report of World Health Organization (WHO). WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told earlier that, “Every death is a tragedy for family, friends and colleagues. However, suicides are preventable.”
“We call on all countries to incorporate proven suicide prevention strategies into national health and education programmes in a sustainable way.” he added.
Educating via media on responsible reporting of suicide, implementing programmes among young people to build life skills that enable them to cope with life stresses, and early identification, management and follow-up of people at risk of suicide, have shown success in reducing suicides, says Clinical Psychologist Professor Anisur Rahman.
If people do not get the cooperative attitude from families and the society, the tendency will increase, he added. According to information provided by human rights organisations and NGOs working in Bangladesh, on an average, more than 10,000 men and women commit suicide every year in Bangladesh. However, Social Science teacher at University of Dhaka Md Kamruzzaman Kazal summed up reason as, “People want to survive by ignoring all obstacles. Many people struggle throughout their life just to survive. Depression and mental illness are regarded as leading causes of suicide.”
“It is not an easy task to abandon the temptations of survival. Yet, many opt to embrace death, leaving the charm of the world, through suicide,” he added. Taking care of mental health in the prevention of suicide, depression should be identified and given proper treatment, he added. According to the National Mental Health Institute of Bangladesh (NIMH), on an average 30 people choose to commit suicide every day in our country. They include men and women of all ages. However, in most cases, women aged 21 to 30 years are most at risk and about 15 to 20 times more people fail to attempt suicide.
In the context of Bangladesh, women are more likely to commit suicide than men, say experts, adding that women are more prone to suicide than men. Most of them are rural women. This trend is more prevalent among rural women because of abstinence, dowry, rape, or childbirth.