'14,436 commit suicide during pandemic last year'

A total of 14,436 persons committed suicide during the pandemic across the country last year, according to a report released by a youth organisation.

According the report, the reasons behind the suicide include family problems, broken relationships, frustration over studies, and financial crisis during the Covid outbreak.

The youth organisation, Aanchal Foundation, highlighted this figures and reasons behind suicide in a webinar on Saturday afternoon. The foundation gathered information for their report from three national and 19 local newspapers from 8 March 2020 to 28 February 2021 as well as from hospitals and police stations.

Aanchal selected 322 incidents of suicide for the report.

Analysing the previous year's data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the foundation claims the rate of suicide has surged by 44.36 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019. According to the BBS report, over 10,000 people committed suicide in 2019.

As per the report, the suicide rate [57 per cent] for women is higher than that of male counterparts [43 per cent]. A total of 8,228 women killed themselves while 6,208 men claimed their own lives.

Among the deceased, 49 per cent are between the ages of 20 and 35, 35 per cent between 5 and 19 years and the 11 per cent between the ages of 36 and 45. The lowest rate [5 per cent] of suicides prevails among the age group between 46 and 80 years.

According to the report, 35 per cent of men and women committed suicide due to various family problems while 24 per cent committed suicide for broken relationships and 32 per cent owing to unknown reasons.

Financial stress accounts for 4 per cent of the suicides and study-related stress for 1 per cent. The report highlighted 11 recommendations to prevent suicide, including mobilising awareness concerning mental health.

The recommendations included ensuring that a person prone to suicide not be left alone, the establishment of a crisis centre and hotline and appointing counselors at all educational institutions.

ASM Shahriar Siddique, the head of the survey team of the foundation, presented the statistics of suicides in the webinar.

Tansen Rose, founder of the Aanchal Foundation, said it was the responsibility of the state and the family to ensure a conducive environment with focus on mental health.

Mental health expert Azharul Islam, among others, spoke at the webinar.