Suicide among aged high — Research reveals

Saturday, October 4, 2008 (The Mirror Pg 34)

By Rebecca Kwei
A research carried out in the middle belt of rural Ghana showed that suicidal intention among the elderly is high.
However, attempts to commit suicide was low due to the stigma attached to it.
Suicide ideation is the intention or wish to die, and the mental formulations and strategies to accomplish it.
Mr Bright Akpalu, a research officer at the Kintampo Health Research Centre, who made this known at the 8th Annual General and Scientific Meeting of the Indepth Network in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, said the study was done in the Kintampo North and South districts among 400 elderly people. The age range was between 65 and 102 years.
The suicidal ideation prevalence rate in the districts was 4.2 per cent.
He said, the study was to conduct an exploratory survey of suicidal ideation among the study population and also find out the risk and protective factors that exist.
He said if people's economic and social circumstances were not the best or were tired with life, the tendency for them to have suicidal thoughts were high.
Mr Akpalu said elderly people who developed psychological, depression, physical disability, sexual problems and had a gloomy perception of the future also had suicide ideas.
He said the World Health Organisation (WHO) ranked suicide among the 10 highest causes of death in the world and elderly people, 65 years and above, commit suicide more than any other age group.
He said although suicidal thoughts were high, the attempts were low among the study population because religion and culture frowned on it.
He said pre-burial activities for people who committed suicide in some communities were embarrassing hence most people would not attempt suicide.
Mr Akpalu said there was the need for the aged to be taken good care of by their families and not neglected.
Additionally, he advocated relief measures to be put in place for the aged ,especially. those who have no one to take care of them to enable them live meaningful lives .
In another development, the board chairman of Indepth Network, Dr Seth Owusu-Agyei, called on scientists and researchers to renew their commitment towards work in order to achieve the best results for development when he gave his remarks at the closing ceremony of the 8th Indepth AGM.
He said the network had already passed through its honeymoon phase, and there was the need to deliver, show prominence and relevance durings its next phase of activities so that the funders would continue to support.
The Executive Director of Indepth Network, Dr Osman Sankoh, urged members to continue to collaborate in order to generate health information that would inform health policies.
The award for Best Poster went to Oscar Bangre of the Navrongo Health Research Centre.
The 8th AGM of Indepth Network also marked the 10th anniversary of the network. More than 200 scientists, researchers and funders attended the meeting.