It is shocking to learn that, on average, 28 people commit suicide in Bangladesh each day.
These figures from police statistics do not include cases which go unreported, so there is reason to fear that the underlying problems may be worse.
As the majority of suicide victims are young women, more attention should be given to the widely known but often ignored factors which drive women in this group to this fateful course.
While family issues, exam pressures, and relationship problems are factors in suicides among men also, it is clear that women face additional pressures in our society. Physical and sexual assaults, such as rape, harassment, and domestic violence are common reasons behind suicide cases involving many women and young girls.
Harassment, oppression, and social negligence towards women are a terrible scourge. Failure to talk about and address these issues only makes them worse. We should be ashamed that this allows stresses to increase on vulnerable age groups and has clearly been a factor in many recent cases where victims of stalking and abuse have been driven to taking their lives.
The government needs to establish and implement coordinated plans to reduce the number of suicide cases in our country.
While there is a place for improving the availability of counseling services and considering measures to limit access to known methods and to the means of committing suicide, it is far more urgent to address the societal factors which drive the suicide rate in our country.
The government must give more priority to prevention.
