The persistent hardship in Africa’s refugee communities is fuelling suicide cases, a silent crisis that requires urgent action. Figures suggest that refugees in East Africa “experience higher rates of depression (31%) and functional impairment (62%) compared to the host population (10% and 25%, respectively).” This highlights the need for targeted investment in mental-health-focused screening and rehabilitation programmes.

In Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, hosting nearly half a million Somalis who fled war and drought, rising suicide deaths are a cause for concern. The situation in Dadaab reflects the predicament of refugees in other camps on the African continent, who are battling hunger and pressure from inability to cope with the harsh living conditions. Suicide-related data remains scarce, creating a gap in evidence-based solutions.

Equally concerning is the complacency towards mental health conditions, which feeds stigma and leaves those affected with no support. Responding to such cases is often delayed, putting people at risk. Aid cuts have devastated healthcare access, leaving humanitarian organisations with very limited means to run awareness campaigns and offer the much-needed counselling services, especially among young refugees.

“If someone says, ‘I want to kill myself,’ nobody cares. They think you’re just joking,” reveals Jane Kireto, a school psychological counsellor with Lutheran World Federation (LWF). “If someone takes their life, it becomes important to understand the circumstances that led to it.”

She notes the worrying disparity between the relatively swift response to familiar illnesses like malaria and typhoid and the passive reaction to mental health conditions widely seen as less significant.

A report on suicide prevention and response among refugees finds that there is a limited range of suicide preventative mechanisms tailored for displaced persons. The report further reveals the existing ones tend to ignore the complex, layered nature of mental health, underscoring the need for models that address multiple layers of the problem.

“Given suicide’s complex etiology, it is incumbent upon health agencies to not only think about individual-level risk factors, but also the broader socio-ecological factors…” the authors recommend, emphasising the need for more research focused on the lives of those at risk.

On top of this, as Jane Kireto notes, the relevant stakeholders must address the underlying causes of suicide, especially socio-economic barriers, and the lack of comprehensive psychosocial services.

The article solely represents the views of Simpson Muhwezi, a Ugandan freelance writer and development practitioner.

This development marks the highest number ever recorded in a single year. The police also translate the alarming statistics to an average of 20 suicides per day.

“Around 20 people killed themselves on an average every 24-hour in the last fiscal year,” said Dr Pomawati Thapa, chief of the Non-communicable Disease and Mental Health Section at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division. “The number is the highest ever recorded in any fiscal year.”

According to Basudev Karki, a consultant psychiatrist, these suicide cases are a result of the government's lack of continued commitment to eradicating or mitigating the high numbers which stood at 16 cases per day in 2015.

“At the time when the government committed to SDGs in 2015, around 16 people took their own lives every 24 hours. w the number has risen to 20. Our government had committed to reduce the suicide rate to 9.7 per 100,000 each year by 2022, but this number rose to 24, and last year it increased further to 25," said Basudev Karki.

Mental health experts attribute this surge to various factors: rising cost of living, financial instability, and the struggle to meet basic needs such as food, housing, and healthcare in a country still trying to recover prepandemic status.

Nonetheless, before the pandemic, a study by the Nepal Health Research Council found that over 10% of adults had experienced mental health issues, with 4.3% currently facing a mental crisis.

“Even those individuals who appear healthy on the outside could also be struggling with serious mental health problems. People generally do not like to talk about mental health issues due to the social stigma attached, and lack of awareness. To tackle the growing mental health problems, authorities concerned have to take multiple approaches,” added Karki.

The Nepal government regardless wants to reduce the suicide rate to 4.7 per 100,000 population by 2030 and has put in place measures to ensure that as confirmed by the Ministry of Health and Population.

“Along with providing free medications for mental health problems at state-run health facilities, we have been taking several other measures that include imparting mental health screening training for health workers. We have been working to declare two local units—Palungtar Municipality of Gorkha and Bagchaur Municipality of Salyan—as model municipalities for mental health,” said Thapa, chief of the Non-communicable Disease and Mental Health Section at the division.