Suicide is a significant social issue in Afghanistan.
It is estimated that 80 percent of suicide attempts in Afghanistan are made by women. The causes of this include mental health problems, domestic violence, forced marriages, and abuse.
Suicide is stigmatized and Haraam in Islam, the official and majority religion in Afghanistan.
In mid-to-late 2023, predominately Western media outlets collectively reported a spike in women committing suicide in Afghanistan had been observed that year. The majority of coverage directly asserted suicide rates among women have climbed, specifically, under the Taliban government's rule it had recaptured two years prior. The reporting was substantiated by unprovided documents that journalists at the Guardian asserted were provided to them by healthcare providers operating in Afghanistan and in touch with Western media intermediaries, privately and presumably outside the Taliban government's knowledge or consent.
The latest available formal numbers show that more men killed themselves in the country than women. The Taliban government do not report on suicides and it is unclear how the data differentiates between suicides and survived attempts.
According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, many suicides in Afghanistan are not reported.
See also
- Health in Afghanistan
References
Further reading
- Gobar, Asad Hassan (May 1970). "Suicide in Afghanistan". The British Journal of Psychiatry. 116 (534): 493–496. doi:10.1192/bjp.116.534.493.
- Paiman, Mohammad Akbar; Khan, Murad Moosa (April 2017). "Suicide and deliberate self-harm in Afghanistan". Asian Journal of Psychiatry. 26: 29–31. doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2017.01.004.
