Title: Effect of Mental Health Facilities on Suicide Prevention: A case of Oti Region of Ghana.

Introduction
Suicide and suicide attempts are critical global public health challenge (Assan, Aikins, &

Takian, 2019). Committing suicide or suicide attempt is unfortunate situation that can befall

any person.

Globally, an estimated 800,000 people die due to suicide every year; this translates to one

person every 40 s. Many attempt suicide and this often is not disclosed, as suicide is deemed

criminal in some countries (Abdulai, 2020). According to the Ghana Health Service, 417

attempted suicide cases were recorded in 16 regions of the country for the first half of the year,

2021 (A1radio, 2021). These statistics shows suicide and attempt suicide is a great threat to

public health.

It is worthy to note that persons who find themselves in such situations are not in the right state

of their minds. Dr. Amma Ampomaa Boadu, Deputy Director of Mental Health at Ghana

Health Service made the disclosure at a mental health training programme organised by the

Mental Health Authority for media practitioners in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region that mental

health challenges is one of the major contributing factors to the increasing number of suicides

in the country (A1radio, 2021).

WHO (2014) empowers member countries across the world to place high premium on suicide

prevention irrespective of a country’s current position in terms of suicide rate or suicide

prevention activities; and in Africa, there is an urgent need to prioritize suicide prevention

(Burrows & Schlebusch, 2009; Osafo, Akotia, Quarshie, Boakye, & Andoh-Arthur, 2017). In

view of this, the Mental Health at Ghana Health Service is making continuous effort to advocate

and promote mental health in the country as well as train more health workers to be able to
identify common mental health disorders to improve the fight against committing of suicides

(A1radio, 2021).

Despite the efforts by the Mental Health at Ghana Health Service, mental health issues have

not been given the necessary attention they deserve because the nation has inadequate mental

health facilities to take care of patients (A1radio, 2021). Hence, this study would examine the

effect of mental health facilities on suicide prevention in the Oti Region of Ghana.

Research Gap

Better understanding of mental health issues have great effect on suicide prevention. Best

practices of mental health institutions helps address mental health issues. However,

numerous issues of suicides and suicide attempts in the country has led researchers to

conduct several studies on factors leading to such mental health challenges. Few research

has been done to ascertain the influence of inadequate mental health facilities to take care

of patients. Therefore, it is very important to examine the impact of mental health facilities

on suicide prevention in the Oti Region of Ghana.

Aim

This study is aimed at examining the effect of mental health facilities on suicide prevention in

the Oti Region of Ghana.

Objectives

1. Identify the mental health challenges that results in suicides and suicide attempts

2. Determine the consequences of inadequate mental health facilities to take care of

patients.

3. Examine the role of mental health facilities in addressing suicides and suicide attempts

menace.
Research Methods
Setting:
The study would be conducted in the Oti Region of Ghana. It is one of the newly created regions

in Ghana. It was carved out of the Volta Region of Ghana in 2016.

Participants
The respondents will comprise of all Mental Health Units of the Ghana Health Service, suicide

victims’ family and suicide attempt survivors in the Oti Region.

Procedure
The researcher would conduct qualitative in-depth interviews and take recordings of reactions

from respondents at the Mental Health Units, homes of suicide victims’ family and suicide

attempt survivors who are willing to grant responses.

Measures
Qualitative in-depth interviews would be utilized to investigate the views of the respondents.

This method would be utilized because it permit respondents to share data in their possess

words and are valuable for gathering point by point data and understanding social processes.

Proposed data analysis

Data would be analyzed utilizing the thematic analysis technique.

Ethical Consideration

The consent of respondents selected for this study would be sought. The confidentiality and

anonymity of study subjects would be ensured by excluding personal identification

References
Abdulai, T. (2020). Trends of online news media reported suicides in Ghana (1997-2019). BMC
Public Health, 20(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-8149-3
Assan, A., Aikins, M., & Takian, A. (2019). Suicide in ghana: How could the community-
based health planning and service (chps) effectively contribute to its prevention? Iranian
Journal of Public Health, 48(11), 2097–2099. https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v48i11.3535
A1radio (2021). Upper East records 47 attempted suicide cases in first half of 2021.
https://www.a1radioonline.com/42002/upper-east-records-47-attempted-suicide-in-first-
half-of-2021/index.html

Osafo, J., Akotia, C. S., Quarshie, E. N. B., Boakye, K. E., & Andoh-Arthur, J. (2017). Police
Views of Suicidal Persons and the Law Criminalizing Attempted Suicide in Ghana: A
Qualitative Study With Policy Implications. SAGE Open, 7(3), 1–11.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017731803