In 2021, when three uniformed police officers committed themselves over 16 days, many people questioned what went wrong.
Several many things may have gone wrong, in actuality.
When faced with difficulties, people occasionally decide to face their demons by taking their own life under the false belief that suicide is the only option.
Professor Charity Sylvia Akotia, a psychology expert, asserted that this shouldn't be the case.
Suicide is never a viable choice. She argued that it is avoidable and that assistance is accessible.
To provide individuals with the certainty and hope they need to avoid turning to suicide as a solution to their problems, additional measures must be put in place. Former School of Social Sciences Dean Professor Akotia, who now teaches at Ghana's University, was mentioned.
Decriminalisation
Caretakers, psychiatrists, psychologists, and several campaigners have been calling for the decriminalization of suicide attempts for many years.
The argument has been that because suicidal inclinations are a mental health condition, people who have them should receive treatment rather than punishment or incarceration.
So, it is encouraging that Parliament enacted the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2021, on March 29 of this year, decriminalizing suicide attempts.
The decriminalisation of attempted suicide will avoid underreporting of suicide cases, which would aid in an accurate calculation of suicide instances, according to a statement made in an article by Dr Ruth Owusu-Antwi, President of the Psychiatric Association of Ghana (PAG).
She said that it would further persuade the administration to devote more funds and attention to suicide prevention.
According to Dr Collins Agyeman Badu, President of the Ghana Psychological Association (GPA), decriminalizing suicide will encourage more individuals to get treatment and have access to qualified practitioners.
He went on to say that this was done to give the growing number of individuals who had been encouraged to seek assistance for mental health issues as a result of the act's modification making suicide a crime access to the appropriate healthcare providers.
"As a result, all hospitals staffed by government health workers must now have mental health specialists." According to Dr Badu, psychologists are the main gatekeepers for dealing with acute distress and the issues individuals are facing.
He claimed that the country might not be able to stop people from entering the pathways of mental health, including suicide, if the government did not promote well-being and prevent the onset of mental health challenges by engaging psychologists at the workplace, in schools, and within communities. This might render the amendment ineffective.
Statistics
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2021 that over 700,000 suicides take place annually throughout the world.
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