Suicide cases amongst children triggers a call for more awareness

The rise of suicide cases amongst children as young as 12 to 17 years old has triggered a call for more awareness with three out of four suicide cases recorded last month being all school students.

Permanent Secretary for Education Selina Kuruleca, who was a Mental Health Professional, has raised the need for more collaboration with NGO partners and the Substance Abuse Advisory Council to combat the rising suicide cases amongst children and people in Fiji.

Kuruleca told fijivillage News that suicide is a multifaceted issue, which needs a coordinated public health multisectoral approach.

Kuruleca says these children are the people who are supposed to be in their most productive years of life and is challenging the children and people to try and reach out because there are people out there who still care.

Kuruleca says the Ministry of Education is working with churches and other partners to help address this issue.

fijivillage News has established that last month, a 12-year-old girl committed suicide after a disagreement, a 15-year-old boy committed suicide in the west and a 13-year-old boy committed suicide a few weeks ago.

According to the statistics provided by the Fiji Police Force, there have been 56 suicides this year compared to 60 cases for the same period last year.

They say the number of attempted suicide cases as of the 22nd of July stands at 44 for this year, compared to 44 for the same period last year.