Student doctors fight ‘silent pandemic’ among men

With Namibia losing young people to suicide at a staggering rate, two medical students are desperately calling for action.

Henriette Paulus and Likius Hailaula, both medical students in their third year and committed mental health activists, have raised the alarm on what they describe as a ‘silent pandemic’ – rising cases of young Namibian men taking their lives.

Three young teachers took their own lives within one week recently, The Namibian reported last week.

Police statistics for the 2023/24 period show that 542 people took their lives, of which 449 were men, 80 were women, and 13 were children.

This means men make up more than 80% of all reported cases.

Namibia is now placed fourth globally and first in Africa in terms of its suicide rate.

“Why does suicide not receive the gravity of Covid-19 or malaria?” asks Paulus, who is also a youth representative on the United Nations Population Fund youth advisory panel.

“We keep losing young men because we normalise silence. There’s no emergency response to emotional pain,” she says.

The root causes, the students say, are related to cultural taboos about masculinity.

In Namibian communities, men are still raised to bottle up their emotions, to be providers, and to never admit weakness.

“From a young age, we’re taught that men don’t cry,” says Hailaula, former students’ representative council vice president at a local institution and author of ‘Graceless Fall of the Black’.

“That’s where it begins. Emotional suppression becomes a survival skill – until it isn’t.”

For many young men, financial hardship compounded by adversity amplifies emotional suffering.

The country’s high youth unemployment rate, material adversity, and a lack of purpose are key drivers of depression and suicide, the two students believe.

Shattered relationships, substance abuse, and isolation are additional burdens, they say.

PATTERNS OF PAIN

Even though statistics verify that more women attempt suicide, men die at much higher rates.

The two students say a 2017 study of Windhoek indicated that the incidence of self-harm in women facilitated early intervention.

While men suppress their emotional agony until it is unendurable, when they do snap, it is usually deadly.

“Gender is not biological – it’s tribal, cultural, and emotional,” Paulus says.

“We need to start thinking about masculinity as a health determinant.”

The 2018 National Suicide Prevention Strategy is an encouraging move, she says.

Support services like 116 Lifeline/Childline, non-governmental organisations like Regain Trust and Second Chance Foundation, as well as spaces like the BeFree Youth Campus have provided safe havens for teenagers, but this is not enough, Hailaula says.

“We’ve activated our communities to be vigilant about crime. But emotional crises? Nobody is trained to see them. We need presence within communities – not surveillance.”

He envisions peer-led interventions like ‘brother-to-brother’ circles drawn from indigenous cultures and supported by public health systems as a critical prevention strategy against suicide.

CALL FOR CULTURAL SHIFT

Both students say redefining masculinity lies at the core of lasting change.

“Let’s build houses, schools, and even shebeens where it is safe to feel,” says Paulus.

“Let’s teach our boys that strength includes softness; that crying is brave; that asking for help is leadership.”

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

The Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture has expressed shock at the recent incidents of teachers taking their lives.

Education minister Sanet Steenkamp has called for urgent and frank talk on mental health, especially among teachers.

“We need to break down the stigma surrounding mental health and obtain professional help to prevent more losses,” she said.

Steenkamp noted outstanding collaborations with the Ministry of Health and Social Services on mental health training and with the Ministry of Finance on improving financial literacy among teachers as part of an integrated effort.

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