Disability Rights Advocates Call For Recognition Of Suicide As A Major Public Health Concern
By Patricia Mbewe
Disability Rights Advocacy Organizations, the mental health users of Zambia and Disability Rights Watch are calling on government to recognize suicide as a major public health concern and invest in community support services aimed at addressing the stigma associated with suicide.
The organizations are further calling on all Zambians to unite in fighting the rising cases of suicide in communities because the right to life is sacred.
Speaking on behalf of the three organizations in observing mental health day today under the theme “suicide prevention�, mental health users of Zambia director, Wamundila Waliuya however commends government for enacting the mental health act, 2019, which seeks to promote mental health from a human rights framework and improve community awareness and action to prevent mental illnesses and disabilities.
The organizations are however deeply disturbed that whilst the act provides that all persons shall enjoy legal capacity, section 4 allows for restriction of legal capacity on the basis of “mental illness�, “mental disorder� or “mental disability�.
Mr Waliuya notes that the mental health act in section 4 strips persons with psychosocial disabilities of the right to enjoy their legal capacity on the basis of their actual or perceived mental abilities.
He has since demanded that the act be amended to address this issue and to remove the classification of persons with mental illness as legally disqualified persons.
PHOENIX NEWS
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