As Ghana battles a rising tide of suicide cases, calls for a coordinated national response are growing louder.
In an interview with ‘ABC IN THE MORNING,’ Prof. Joseph Osafo, Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Ghana urged the Mental Health Authority (MHA) to urgently convene a team of experts to design a comprehensive National Suicide Prevention Strategy.
His proposal comes in the wake of fresh data from the MHA, which recorded a 40% surge in suicide deaths in 2024.
According to the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS), 134 lives were lost to suicide last year, with 1,174 attempted cases. Even more troubling, 475 suicide attempts were reported in just the first half of 2025.
Prof. Osafo believes a well-coordinated National Suicide Prevention Strategy could help identify risk factors, improve early detection, and guide conversations that dismantle the stigma surrounding mental health.
Central to his recommendation is the establishment of an effective surveillance system that would track cases in real time, enabling timely interventions and data-driven policy decisions.
The Chief Executive Officer of the MHA, Dr. Eugene Dordoye, has acknowledged the urgent nature of the crisis, stressing that young people are the most affected demographic.
He warned that the ripple effects of rising suicide rates stretch beyond public health, threatening Ghana’s social and economic progress, as many victims are within the country’s most productive age bracket.
Mental health advocates argue that without a national framework, efforts remain fragmented, with interventions often limited to small-scale campaigns or underfunded projects.
They say a holistic strategy could unite healthcare providers, schools, faith-based organisations, and communities in providing both preventive and responsive support.
The urgency of the situation underscores the need for government and policymakers to prioritise mental health as a national development issue.
With suicide cases climbing and the stigma around mental health still deeply rooted in Ghanaian society, experts insist that only a deliberate, strategic approach can reverse the troubling trend.
