In recent months, the Ivory Coast, the country with the highest growth and stability in West Africa, has seen a dramatic rise in suicides. On the African continent, which has the world's highest suicide rate (11 people per 100,000 inhabitants, according to WHO figures), Côte d'Ivoire ranks third.
A sign of widespread despair that runs through the whole of society and affects all ages, but particularly the young.
This ‘epidemic’, as it has been defined, expresses a profound demand for hope to which the Community of Sant‘’Egidio decided to respond, inviting everyone to a renewed attention and care for others: ‘We note with bitterness the growing number of people, including young people, who express their discomfort with the life they lead, in some cases going as far as extreme acts such as suicide,’ reads a press release issued by the Community. 'It is also the result of loneliness, a condition afflicting too many people. Faced with a growing phenomenon in Côte d'Ivoire, which - according to some statistics - has the third highest suicide rate in Africa, we cannot remain indifferent. We must give back the future to those who have lost it.’
Sant'Egidio therefore appealed to Ivorian society - believers of all faiths, institutions, the media and everyone - to pay more attention to the most fragile and needy people.
The Community suggests a practical alternative: attention and commitment in solidarity towards others, from street children to the elderly and the many minors in difficulty in the large suburbs. It is a commitment that Sant'Egidio has been carrying out for years in this country. A call addressed in particular to young people - many also tempted by emigration - asking them to build their future together.
