Movement to prevent suicides launched
Muhammad bin Alim, a potential asset and a valuable life to the country and his family, would have turned 15 yesterday had he not ended his life on September 15 last year.
Brighter Tomorrow, a social movement to prevent suicide, was launched on Alim's birthday to save life, the most valuable thing on earth, from untimely and unwanted endings, said Joyoshree Zaman, mother of Alim and Chirasree Zaman, who also committed suicide with her brother.
"I do not want another person to go through the pain I am going through," said Zaman.
"We want to campaign against suicide and make people aware of the causes and ways to prevent it," she told The Daily Star.
The movement would also provide counselling and support for families which have suffered from suicides.
At the launching programme held at Jatiya Press Club, psychiatrist Helal Uddin Ahmed said on average 28 people commit suicide every day in Bangladesh.
Based on World Health Organization (WHO) data, the suicide rate in Bangladesh in 7.8 per 100,000 deaths, he said, adding that Guyana has the highest suicide rate in the world.
"The suicide rate among Bangladeshi males is 6.8 and among females is 8.7," he said and mentioned domestic torture and marriage complications as some major reasons of suicide.
The doctor also mentioned hasty urbanisation, loss of moral values and the growing idea of individualistic and self-centric society as causes of suicide.
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, the chief guest of the programme, said the upcoming broadcast law would be able to control the content of the media so that it does not encourage acts of suicide.
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