WUNRN
AFGHANISTAN - GOVERNMENT CAMPAIGN
AGAINST SELF-IMMOLATION
By Jill McGivering -
Many Afghan women try to commit
suicide after domestic violence
The Afghan government has launched a national media campaign to address the growing problem of self-immolation.
Most people who set fire to themselves, on purpose or by accident, are women.
Many try to commit suicide because they
are victims of domestic violence and other forms of abuse.
Typical cases involve young women who are badly burned by household fuel or cooking oil.
Many suffer terrible scarring and in some cases the injuries are fatal.
Families are often ashamed if a woman in
their household tries to kill herself, especially if it is because of domestic
abuse.
So it is often hard to know which cases are genuine accidents and which are suicides.
But it does seem clear that the number of
cases has been increasing - and this has now become not a regional but a
national issue.
"During
the last year, 22,000 cases of burns were recorded in the hospitals and
received treatment," said Dr Suray Dalil,
"Among them, around 2,000 cases were admitted to the hospital as in-patients."
Naming several top hospitals in
There has been little sign of a reduction
in cases this year.
"In the first five months of the current year, 850 patients have been treated in hospital," she said.
Dr Arif Jalali, head of the burns centre
in
The Afghan government's new campaign addresses a range of issues - including safety in the kitchen - which may help to prevent genuine accidents.
It also emphasises the horrific injuries
caused by extensive burn injuries, and looks too at issues of domestic violence
and abuse that seem to prompt many attempted suicides through self-immolation.