By Chioma Obinna
As Nigeria grapples with the rising public well being disaster of drug abuse and rising suicide charges, the Vanguard Psychological Well being Summit is ready to shine a highlight on these twin challenges with the sub theme: “Substance and Silence: Unmasking the Twin Disaster of Habit and Suicide.”
The occasion is billed to carry on the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on October, seventeenth, 2025.
The theme will likely be delivered by Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.), Chairman of the Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company (NDLEA), whose management has intensified Nigeria’s response to drug trafficking and substance use problems. His presentation is anticipated to supply deep insights into the intersection of substance abuse, psychological well being, and suicide points usually swept below the carpet as a result of stigma, silence, and systemic neglect.
Why Vanguard is specializing in drug abuse
In line with the United Nations Workplace on Medicine and Crime, UNODC, Nigeria has one of many highest drug use prevalence charges in Africa, with an estimated 14.4 per cent of the inhabitants aged 15–64, roughly 14.3 million individuals reportedly utilizing medicine, greater than twice the worldwide common of 5.5 per cent. Of this quantity, 1 in 4 drug customers is a lady, and about 3 million individuals undergo from drug use problems, needing skilled assist.
Compounding this disaster is the alarming rise in suicide charges, particularly amongst younger individuals. The World Well being Organisation , WHO, estimates that over 720,000 individuals die by suicide globally annually, with Africa accounting for the very best suicide charge amongst WHO areas.
In Nigeria, psychological well being specialists warned that the suicide charge is grossly underreported as a result of stigma and insufficient nationwide knowledge.
“Drug abuse and suicide are deeply interconnected crises. Substance use problems improve the danger of psychological diseases, whereas untreated psychological well being circumstances can push people towards self-harm. We can’t proceed to disregard this twin epidemic,” says Gen. Marwa on the final summit.
Psychological well being professionals emphasised that drug habit not solely destroys people and households but in addition locations an infinite burden on Nigeria’s already fragile healthcare system.
Additionally, findings have proven that hospitals throughout the nation lack satisfactory psychiatric providers, rehabilitation facilities stay underfunded, and psychological well being laws has solely not too long ago seen reform after many years of inertia.
The Vanguard Psychological Well being Summit sequence, organised by Vanguard Newspapers, goals to offer a multi-stakeholder platform for dialogue, coverage engagement, and group training. It’ll convey collectively authorities officers, psychological well being specialists, civil society organizations, youth advocates, and growth companions to advance sustainable options.
Specialists argued that past enforcement, Nigeria should urgently scale up prevention, early intervention, and remedy providers, particularly in faculties and rural communities.
The summit can also be anticipated to name for higher integration of psychological well being into main healthcare, stronger community-based rehabilitation, and widespread public consciousness campaigns to dismantle the stigma surrounding each habit and suicide.
With Gen. Marwa’s keynote anticipated to set the tone, the Vanguard Psychological Well being Summit guarantees to be a wake-up name for pressing, unified motion on a disaster that continues to develop in silence.
The submit third Vanguard Psychological Well being Summit to unmask twin disaster of habit, suicide appeared first on Vanguard Information.
