Deputy National Police Spokesperson, Peter Kalaya says of the 76 people that have committed suicide in the first quarter of 2021, 69 are men while 7 are women.

Kalaya notes that, ``most men are not forthcoming with their concerns to seek psychosocial support and counseling on issues affecting them because from the records that we have, women are coming to seek psychosocial support but it is not the case with men".

Psychology expert Dr. Chiwoza Bandawe, a lecturer at College of Medicine suggests that there is need for massive awareness and change of review some laws.

``There is a law that says, if anyone attempts suicide should be arrested, that law is not helpful and its actually harmful because it prevents people from seeking help. We need to get rid of such law", notes Dr. Bandawe.

Dr. Charles Masulani who is the Executive Director of the Saint John of God Hospital Services, is adding value on Dr. Bandawe’s statement, saying the study they conducted on suicide in the country, it revealed that men are more prone to commit suicide because they do not seek help, to avoid being called weak.

``Men were more likely to commit suicide to women, and the explanation to that is men use more aversive ways of committing suicide compared to women. Men will not even seek help because they fear that they will be taken as weak characters" Dr Masulani told us.

44 people committed suicide in the first quarter of 2020, 43 of which were men and 1 woman.