175 die to suicide in first half-year 2025 – MHA

 Ghana lost a total number of 175 lives to suicide in the first half of the year compared with 134 cases in the same period last year, the Acting Chief Executive of the Mental Health Authority (MHA), Dr Eugene K. Dordoye, has disclosed.

That, he said, represented a 20 per cent increase in suicide cases in the period under review.

Dr Dordoye disclosed this yesterday in Accra at a press conference to commemorate this year’s World Suicide Day held under the theme: “Chang­ing the Narrative on Suicide after Decriminalisation.”

According to Dr Dordoye, although the decriminalisation of suicide in the country had allowed individuals with mental health issues to seek help, the issue of societal behaviour in relation to suicide was still a challenge.

“The decriminalisation of suicide in 2023 was just more than a legal amendment, but a legal milestone. It signified a shift from punishment to care and from justice to empathy. However, the current situation of suicide in the country is that societal behaviour is still a chal­lenge,” Dr Dordoye said.

He underscored the need to intensify awareness creation, improve access to mental health care services, sure sustainable funding through the Mental Health Fund.

Dr Dordoye underscored the need for the employee assistance programme to be promulgated into law to make it mandatory for corporate organ­isations to offer mental health assistance to employees.

He also noted that teachers were trained to offer counselling services to students at the vari­ous schools across the county.

“The Authority intends to fully integrate mental health services into the Ghana Health Service to ensure that hospitals provide mental health services as part of their service delivery, especially at the primary level,” he said.

The Director of Admin­istration of MHA, Mr Julius Kuusaalesuo, pointed out that the four mental health condi­tions, namely, depression dis­order, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia disorder, were yet to be covered by the National Health Insur­ance Scheme (NHIS).

He was optimistic that the four conditions would be covered under the NHIS once the arrangement process had been completed, including the reviewing of tariffs.

 BY BENJAMIN ARC­TON-TETTEY

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