Suicide cases on the rise in Masaka

MASAKA. There has been an increase in the number of suicide cases in the greater Masaka region, which police have attributed to family misunderstandings and depression.
While police report that by July at least 13 people had taken their lives by either hanging, cutting their throats or poison ingestion, the number could be more since some cases are not reported.
Leaders are worried and are pondering how to approach the challenge.
Mr Lameck Kigozi, the Southern Regional police spokesperson, says a big number of suicide cases reported are as a result of family conflicts.
Mr Kigozi cites an incident where a man hanged himself in Kyamulibwa Police Cells in Kalungu District in June.
He says the suspect, who had been detained for reportedly torching a relative’s house, was found dead in the cells after hanging himself using a piece of cloth.
The suspect’s suicidal note that was found on the floor thus read: “I have had a misunderstanding with one of my relatives and this forced me to set his house on fire. I request my relatives to take care of my family.”
Another shocking incident happened at Kitanda Sub-county in Bukomansimbi District on August 17 when an 18-year-old student of Buloba College in Wakiso District was found dead in his parents’ garden.
Mr Musa Wamala Kapere, the father of the deceased, is still in shock.
His son (Isaac Muwuluzi)’s body was found lying in a pool of blood after he cut his throat with a razor blade. The school management had sent Muwuluzi home after getting reports from his teachers that he had been threatening to take his life.

Suicides in a scientific perspective
According to medical experts, the main factor prompting people to commit suicide is normally mental disorder which accounts for 90 per cent and of these; depression is the most common accounting for about 70 per cent.
The rest of the cases of suicidal behaviour, according to Prof Eugene Kinyanda, a psychiatrist at the Medical Research Council (MRC) and a don at the Department of Psychiatry, Makerere University, are due to the general stress and difficult encounters in life.
These include interpersonal problems in marriage and relationships, economic difficulties, unemployment, poor housing in cities and chronic health conditions such as HIV/Aids and other illnesses such as cancer.
He says for one to commit suicide, they develop a state of hopelessness before hatching a suicidal plan.
“People who end up taking away their lives usually start (but not always) with thoughts of worthlessness and hopelessness and if there is no intervention, they then go on to develop suicidal ideas and then start planning how to execute those suicidal ideas and eventually attempt suicide, which may not be successful (attempted suicide) or successful (a completed suicide),” he says.
He says suicidal behaviour can be prevented or controlled through proper medication and counselling. “Once they detect a problem, relatives and close friends of the victims are advised to refer them to the mental health professionals before it is too late,” he says.
According to the 2014 World Health Organisation rankings, Uganda was placed in the 17th among countries with highest number of suicide cases.
The data showed that 18.67 per 100,000 deaths in Uganda are a result of suicide.
Prof Kinyanda says there is need for increased community awareness so that community members can recognise signs of psychological distress, including signs of increased risk for suicide among relatives so that they can quickly take them for professional mental health care before they get to the final stage of the suicidal spectrum.
“For example, in the above case of Muwuluzi, who made the initial threat of taking his life while still at school, the father should have immediately taken his son to a mental health worker. Mental health workers and other health workers have been equipped with the skills to assess suicide risk and to provide the necessary psychological and drug treatments to help such people,” he explains.
Prof Kinyanda says studies show that all age groups are at risk of taking their own lives, but suicide rates in young adults have, however, been rising in the recent past.

Survey
According to a study that undertook a 30-year review of suicide records from Mulago National Referral Hospital mortuary sanctioned by Makerere University School of Medicine, the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology, more men had committed suicide than women by the end of 2004.
The survey revealed that more than 375 cases were reported and out of which, at least 77 per cent of the deaths were males while females where at only 23 per cent.
The report also indicates that about three quarters of the suicides were committed by people in age between 20 and 39 years.