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IRIN via Electronic Iraq - Dec 28, 2006
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2766.shtml

Iraq: Stress of violence leads to more suicides

Report, IRIN, 28 December 2006

BAGHDAD - The number of suicides in war-ravaged Iraq is increasing due to
psychological stress caused by relentless violence, medical experts said.
"We see more cases of suicide each month and all evidence shows that the
main reason for the suicides has been the stress and pressure caused by the
continuing violence," said Dr. Muhammad Hamza, a specialist in suicide
medical investigation at the Ministry of Health.

Hamza said that he found that 70 percent of suicide victims chose to poison
themselves using rat and cockroach poison. Others either shot or hanged
themselves.

"Some of them leave letters to their parents and the most common excuse
given for their act is that they can no longer bear the violence," Hamza
said.

"This week I had two cases of suicide. One person committed suicide because
of the daily threats to his life which he had been receiving, and the other
one because her husband had been killed and she became so desperate that
she killed herself too," Hamza added.

Based on statistics from the Baghdad mortuary and hospitals in five
regions, the Ministry of Health said that about 20 people have been
committing suicide each month since January. Thirty others attempted
suicide but were saved.

"The numbers are high when compared to those during Saddam Hussein's regime
when we used to have one or two suicide cases a month," said Ahmed Fatah, a
member of the suicide investigation department at the Ministry of Health.

According to the Ministry of Health, the country's continuing violence has
had more psychological effect on the less privileged segment of society -
those with little education or who are poor. "They are at their wits' end
in dealing with threats or the pressure of violence. They do not have the
wherewithal to protect themselves from violence and for economic reasons
they cannot leave the country," a Ministry of Health official said on
condition of anonymity.

"Today it is the adults who are committing suicide but it will not be long
before children too start taking their own lives," said Fatah.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) office in Amman, Jordan, has said that
it does not have statistics on suicide cases in Iraq, but that it was not
surprising to see such high suicide numbers considering the circumstances
the country is living under.

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