A group of psychologists, psychiatrists, and activists met this weekend, February 25-26, at the initiative of the NGO GT Foundation at the Bushman Hotel in Abidjan for a conference to raise awareness of suicide. This is a rare occurrence in Ivory Coast, where mental health issues are still largely taboo.
Despite its particularly dark theme, the conference was sold out. The panelists, mental health professionals, and activists, recalled that Africa was the continent with the highest suicide rate, and the Ivory Coast was the third country in Africa in the ranking. To explain these figures, psychotherapist Nour Bakayoko offers several explanations:
“Here, for example, we say: ‘If you’re too angry, you have to kill yourself.’ We tend to trivialize everything in the Ivory Coast. Thus, this is one of the factors favoring all mental illnesses. For someone who lived through the 2002 crisis, the 2011 crisis, and the various mutinies that took place, there are bound to be psychological consequences. So, we think that here, we need a lot of therapists, we need a lot of follow-ups. »
“Attitudes are starting to change a bit. Social networks democratize things a little more, it encourages young people and Ivorian populations to consult. But there is still a lot of awareness-raising work that must continue to break stereotypes and allow people to feel less alone. » said Yasmine Mouaine, specializing in neuropsychology,
But for the time being, mental health remains the poor relation of Ivorian public health policies: Ivory Coast has only 35 conventional treatment establishments throughout its territory.