The Ghana Psychological Association (GPA) has marked World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) by calling on government and relevant stakeholders to urgently contribute meaningful initiatives toward preventing suicides in the country.

Commemorating the 2020 edition under the theme, “Working Together to Prevent Suicide” GPA’s National Public Relations Officer, Joy Anima Debrah said the issue has now become rampant in the country affecting whole family, friends and colleagues, employers and employees, communities.

Therefore, the need for a collective efforts towards suicide prevention in Ghana.

“Suicide prevention is everyone’s business and each and every one of us has a role to play.

“The multifaceted nature of the problem requires that we go beyond one-size-fits-all prevention frameworks which are not achieving the much-needed results.

"This is because interventions from such frameworks are usually singular, universalised, and a contextual, and often inform a conceptualisation of suicide as an individual problem requiring solutions at the individual level,” she said.

Noting that psychological wellness is equally relevant, Madam Debrah chastised the media for not meeting the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards for suicide reporting.

She said, “Aside sensationalism and needless glamourisation, our media houses continue to give detailed account of suicide methods, post images of suicidal persons, and fail to provide the public with suicide prevention education and professional contacts for suicide support services. Failure to adhere to prescribed suicide reporting standards is a great risk for copycat suicide in vulnerable persons.”