The Rate Men Commit Suicide In Nigeria Over Family Pressure—CDC

The Rate Men Commit Suicide In Nigeria Over Family Pressure—CDC

The Rate Men Commit Suicide In Nigeria Over Family Pressure—CDC

The Advisor, Non-communicable Diseases, Injuries and Mental Health for Africa, CDC, Dr Naeem Dalal, has revealed that more men are committing suicide in Nigeria and other part of Africa due to family pressure.

Dalal spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lusaka, Zambia, on the sideline of a parallel session on Youth Mental Health in Africa, at the International Conference on Public Health in Africa on Tuesday.

The CPHIA, an annual event, is organised by the Africa Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention, with the 2023 edition being hosted by the Government of Zambia.

There is more active suicide amongst men.

“When we talk about suicide, we need to understand two things. There’s suicide which is passive and suicide, which is active.

“Active suicide is where you die by suicide.

“Passive suicide is where you have thoughts of dying by killing yourself or harming yourself, but you don’t go ahead with those thoughts. So, that’s passive suicide.

there’s more active suicide amongst men. For every 50 per cent of it, it is amongst the men that die and this is because men use more lethal with dying.’’

Dalal listed some reasons that make men resort to suicide rather than seek help.

“It’s also important to understand that men do not reach out for help for mental health concerns or issues that they face because of the culture that we have in Africa, where men are supposed to be supportive.

“Men are supposed to be responsible and breadwinners in communities. Showing that part of vulnerability is not something that is accepted in our communities across the African continent in general.

“These are the challenges we are facing,’’ he told NAN.

“However, the solutions and the implementations that Africa CDC is currently carrying out is in the non-communicable diseases, injuries and mental health strategy.

“They have flagship programmes that are looking at mental health advocacy for communities, looking also at men’s health. there’s also mental health fellowships that are coming up, where they will build capacity amongst healthcare workers to also seek mental health as a profession.