Hertta-Maria Amutenja
At least 615 suicides were recorded by the Namibian police between January 20-22 and April 2023. Of these staggering statistics, 485 are adult men while 107 are adult women.
The figures also indicate that 18 male juveniles and 5 female juveniles died by suicide during the same period.
The Inspector General of the Namibian Police, Lieutenant General Joseph Shikongo revealed in an exclusive interview with the Windhoek Observer that the Omusati Region has the highest recorded suicide rate with 121 cases while the //Karas region reported the lowest with eight suicides.
The Ohangwena Region reported 94 cases, Khomas 86, Oshikoto 63, Oshana 69, Otjozondjupa 42, Erongo 39, Kavango East 35, Kavango West 25, Hardap 39, Zambezi 22 Omaheke 23 and Kunene Region recorded 17 cases.
According to Shikongo, the suicides were either by hanging, shooting, self-poisoning, stabbing, throat cutting, drowning, jumping, burning or by overdosing.
The Deputy health Minister, Esther Muinjangue said that men who are less communicative tend to fall victim to suicide and they are also more suicidal because society does not allow them to express their feelings and emotions.
“Suicide is a very sensitive and complex issue, it has multiple causes and in fact, the nature of death by suicide already means we can never fully know the reason behind it unless the victim leaves a death note explaining why. Communication could be one of the reasons. In most cases, women are more willing to share and express themselves about how they feel. While men tend to bottle up their emotions and problems. So, they keep them to themselves without sharing,” she said.
In addition, Muinjangue said another reason could be the way children are raised.
“We expect men to be strong and for them to not admit that they are struggling. This is why they end up bottling up their problems. We tell boys to not cry or express their emotions and that crying is a sign of weakness. However, from a social point of view, people who seek assistance do not to fall prey to suicide and are strong. There is also a tendency of mothers talking more about children’s feelings only with their girl children,” she added.
Furthermore, Executive Director at the Ministry Ben Nangombe said after a National Study on the Prevalence and Incidences of Suicide in Namibia conducted by the ministry in 2018 indicates the reason men are suicidal is because of financial problems, romantic relationship problems, Alcohol and Drug abuse, depression, as well as a life-limiting illness like HIV and Cancer. Compared to women, where the number one reason is romantic relationship problems, followed by financial reasons, trauma caused by death, life-limiting illnesses and depression.
“Another contributing factor can be that men use more lethal methods to die of suicide. The Study indicates that 31.1 per cent of men died of suicide due to poisoning; 12.6 per cent due to shooting – while 18.9 per cent of women died by poisoning and 0.6 per cent due to shooting. More women (47.7perecent) die of an overdose, compared to men (29 per cent), “ he said
He added the health ministry has prioritized the prevention of suicide as one of the focus areas and has a National Action Committee on the Prevention and Interventions on Suicide which consists of different line Ministries, NGOs, CSOs, and Tertiary Institutions.
“This Committee oversees activities by stakeholders on the awareness raising, prevention, education and available services. This National Committee also oversees the activities of the Regional Committee on the Prevention and Interventions of Suicide and meets every month. Community members are also part of these Committees,” he added.
