Today is World Suicide Prevention Day: Suicide rate declines in Sri
Lanka
Manjula Fernando
Colombo: Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. Loneliness,
ignorance and low self esteem top the reasons for suicides among Sri
Lankans. An overdose of paracetamol is one of the commonest methods used
by teenagers to end their lives, local counselling experts say.
Sri Lanka is among the countries with a high suicide rate, but
according to official sources the rate has come down from 47 suicides
per 100,000 people in 1995 to 22 in 2006 (available data).
An alarming 70,000 people have committed suicide from 1990 to 2000
with an estimated 14 million reported attempts to end their lives, a
research in 2005 have also revealed.
Coping with emotions, sexuality, and low self esteem contributes to a
high rate of incidents. A spokesperson for Sumithrayo, a humanitarian
organisation with a wide network of befriending services expressed the
controversial opinion that the belief of rebirth offered in Hindu and
Buddhist faiths could also be deemed as another popular excuse to end
one’s life. The popular notion is ” We could start all over again.”
Although suicides are common among all age groups, Sumithrayo says
they witness a low rate among school children, probably due to Sri Lanka
still having strong family bondages.
But among young adults aged 18 to 24 this problem is very rampant.
This is the point of age they lose immediate attention of their
parents or guardians and make their entry to ‘Society”.
Problems related to Sex and alcohol dominate this group. The rate of
suicides is also high in the rural agriculture sector where toxic
substances used as pesticides and weedicides are freely available.
”Th free availability of toxins is another reason for high suicide
rates in this sector. Angry people may act impulsively. But if there is
a delay in finding means to execute your will, your rational thinking
would over take your anger. Many who have attempted suicide and lived
on, later regret their actions,” she said.
A study on adolescents (Age Between 15 to 19) conducted in 90 WHO
countries have found, the mean suicide rate for this age group, based on
data available for the latest year, was 7.4/100,000. Suicide rates were
higher in males (10.5) than in females (4.1). This applies in almost all
countries. The exceptions have been Sri Lanka, China, Cuba, Ecuador and
El Salvador, the official journal of World Psychiatric Association
reveals.
A local expert however said that this could be because the female
attempts of suicide are higher than male attempts. Males usually end
their bids successfully. Sumithrayo has also seen significant trend
among homosexuals, especially females who have to cope up with rejection
from the society.
Although we could be happy of the achievements with Sri Lanka
recording fewer suicides over the years, there seems to be very low
interest and lethargic attitude towards helping people with such
problems in Sri Lanka. The State sector involvement in this sector seems
very poor. There seems to be no up to date data on suicides and related
issues.
There are very few places that offer confidential, friendly support
for people to go and talk it out, unburden themselves.
”We cannot be satisfied at all with the available system to address
this issue, “ a volunteer said.
This year the World Suicide prevention day theme is “Think Globally,
Plan nationally, Act Locally.” It is time for us to Act Locally.
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