A non-governmental initiative, Suicide Is No Solution (SINS) on Thursday disclosed that it has commenced an anti-suicide campaign comprising a series of advocacy activities, interactive events and counselling support to highlight the increasing tide of deaths by suicide amongst Nigerians and to provide professional support to would-be victims with a view to dissuade them from taking their lives.
The group said that a team of mental health professionals, religious leaders, social workers and volunteers have joined hands to support the cause in order to achieve its objective.
SINS Project Lead Mrs Idy Toye-Arulogun stated that SINS is a coordinated response to the increase in the rate of deaths by suicide in Nigeria, pointing out that the key task of the SINS campaign is the significant reduction in the rate of deaths by suicide in Nigeria through strong public enlightenment and advocacy campaign that dissuades people from killing themselves.
She noted that with one person in the world dying by suicide every forty seconds and Nigeria being 15th in the world suicide ranking, there is a strong need to intensify the campaign against suicide, especially given the psychological effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Mrs Toye-Arulogun revealed that the SINS campaign encompasses multimedia communication messages for exposure in both traditional and new media platforms, a helpline and a back end professional counselling support structure to engage members of the public going through distress and depression, stressing that the group is optimistic that the SINS intervention will contribute to the mental well-being of Nigerians and ultimately the reduction of deaths by suicide through various engagements.
