Lesotho is grappling with a devastating mental health crisis as the country records the world’s highest suicide rate, according to data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The WHO reports that an alarming 87.5 people per 100,000 of Lesotho’s population take their own lives each year – more than double the rate of the next highest country, Guyana in South America, which sees just over 40 suicides per 100,000 people.
The global average suicide rate stands at only 9 per 100,000 people.
According to reports monitored here on Thursday, experts say the reasons people take their own lives are multi-faceted, and cite the high rate of gender-based violence, unemployment, substance abuse and loss of loved ones as major contributors to Lesotho’s suicide epidemic.
A 2022 World Population Review report found that 86 percent of women in Lesotho have experienced gender-based violence, while the World Bank estimates that two in five young people in the country are not in employment or education.
Unresolved trauma, a lack of economic opportunities and limited access to mental healthcare services are all driving this crisis.
JN/APA