Close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year
A twenty-two-year-old lady in Pankrono in the Tafo-Pankrono constituency in the Ashanti Region, Barbara Buabeng, has narrated how she nearly committed suicide due to issues with her family finances.
Speaking on the occasion of the World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD), she said she had wanted to end her life because of the hardship she was going through.
World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) provides the opportunity for people across the globe to raise awareness on suicide and suicide prevention.
Suicides happen in all countries and regions, whether rich or poor.
However, most occur in low and middle-income countries, which accounts almost four-fifths of global suicides in 2016.
It is estimated that the method used for 20% of global suicides is pesticide self-poisoning, most of which occur in rural agricultural areas in low- and middle-income countries.
Other common methods of suicide are hanging and firearms.
In high-income countries, there is a well-established link between suicide and mental health issues such as depression and alcohol use disorders, but many suicides take place on an impulse, during moments of crisis.
Narrating her ordeal, Barbara Buabeng said “My 40-year-old father, Yaw Buabeng forced me to be a drunkard at the age of six years.”
According to Barbara Buabeng “I was staying with my father after he divorced my mother. My father was a [drinking] spot operator. My father always brutalised me and forced me to drink alcohol anytime he gets angry with me.
“I took insecticide to end my life because of the treatment from my father after Junior High School (JHS). My parents told me they have nothing to support me to further my education. They told me to go for a man who can sponsor me financially but I’m not ready to involve myself in that act,” she explained.
“Sometimes I feel like committing suicide after the first attempt because life is hard for me after my parents abandoned me. They said I should go for a man which I’m not ready so they said they can’t take care of me financially”.
Barbara Buabeng appealed to Ghanaians, stakeholders and NGOs to support her establish her own business.
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