Macau recorded 15 suicides - 8 males and 7 females- in the fourth quarter of last year, three fewer than the previous quarter and seven fewer than the same quarter of 2021, according to a statement by the Health Bureau (SSM) yesterday.
The statement noted that among the 15 victims, aged between 22 and 96, 12 were local residents, accounting for 80 percent, and three were non-local residents, accounting for 20 percent.
The statement did not give the full year figure.
The statement pointed out that chronic, physical and mental diseases, gambling issues and financial problems were the most probable causes of the suicides.
According to the World Health Organisation, the statement said, over 700,000 people worldwide die by suicide each year, or one in every 100 deaths, adding that although the causes of suicide are complex and often involve mental illness, psychological factors, socioeconomic reasons, family struggles, interpersonal relationships, as well as biological inheritance, suicide is preventable, which requires the community to unite to preventing suicidal thoughts.
In order to help reduce the incidence of suicide, the bureau urged members of the public to contact, communicate and care more about people around them in their daily lives, and encourage people suffering from emotional distress to actively seek professional assistance.
The bureau said that its psychology clinics in Tap Seac, Fai Chi Kei, Areia Preta, Ocean Gardens, Our Lady of Carmo-Lago, Coloane’s Seac Pai Van and on Rua da Praia do Manduco are open to the public without referral from the city’s hospitals. It also urged all those beset by anxiety or despair to phone Macau Caritas’s Life Hope Hotline – 2852 5222 for Cantonese and 2852 5777 for English speakers.
Image courtesy of Harvard University
