Abstract
BackgroundSuicides have become headline news in most developing countries and often feature on front pages with accompanying graphic pictures on prominent news portals. There has been an increased reportage of suicides by the Ghanaian news media. This study aims to shed light on the trend of online news media reporting of suicides, and the epidemiology of media reported suicides in Ghana.MethodsAn online search was conducted for news media reports of suicides committed in Ghana. One hundred and forty-two (142) news media reported suicides spanning 1997 to 31st July 2019 were retrieved and included in the analyses.ResultsThe victims of suicides were predominantly male (85.92%), young (mean age = 34.81 ± 15.71 years; range 10-86 years). Suicide by hanging (67.94%), the use of firearms (18.32%), and self-poisoning (8.93%) were the common methods used by the victims. There has been increased online news media reportage of suicides in Ghana in the last 3 years; 2017 witnessed the highest reportage of 30 (21%) cases. Marital or relationships and family problems were commonly cited as the reasons for the commission of suicides; mental disorders, and financial problems were also cited as immediate triggers of the suicides by close relations of the victims.ConclusionThere is an increased media reportage of suicides in Ghana, although this cannot be linked to a corresponding increase in suicide incidence. Interventions to decrease the risk of suicide among vulnerable populations (young adults) such as the identification of suicidal behavior, making mental healthcare services more accessible by integrating into the general healthcare service, public education, establishing a suicide hotline will be critical programs to help reduce suicide incidence in Ghana.
Highlights
Suicides have become headline news in most developing countries and often feature on front pages with accompanying graphic pictures on prominent news portals
There has been a recent increase in the news media reportage of suicide deaths in Ghana, this study; aims to shed light on the trend of online news media reporting of suicides, and the epidemiology of media reported suicides in Ghana
There is an increased reportage of suicides in Ghana, this cannot be linked to a corresponding increase in suicide incidence since official records of suicides in Ghana are not available in a centralized database
Summary
Suicides have become headline news in most developing countries and often feature on front pages with accompanying graphic pictures on prominent news portals. An estimated 800,000 people die due to suicide every year; this translates to one person every 40 s. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among under 30 year olds globally and occurs throughout the lifespan. Suicide accounted for 1.4% of all deaths worldwide, making it the 17th leading cause of death in 2015 [1]. Extreme helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness, or defeat and Several methods have been reported in the literature as means of suicide commission used by victims in Abdulai BMC Public Health (2020) 20:35 ending their lives; perhaps the commonest are hanging, firearms, and self-poisoning in most countries [7,8,9,10]. Suicide by firearms is more common compared to developing countries [11]
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