Local authorities in some mountainous districts in Binh Dinh Province are finding it hard to stop rising suicide rate among the locals.
Dinh Van Nieu talked about his wife's death
Dinh Thi B. was a woman in Suoi Cat Village, Vinh Thanh District. B had an old mother and one son, but her son became an alcoholic. Disappointed, B. hang herself up on January 29.
Some suicide cases were affected from outsiders. Huynh N, a local in Vinh Hao Commune, and Dinh K in Vinh Kim Commune, were co-fathers-in-law. N treated K with great foods when he visited.
However, due to his situation, K could only offer N their alcohol when N visited. Some neighbours spread out rumours that K was "improper man", making K hang himself up. N also committed suicide after he was drunk and blamed himself for K's death.
Dinh Van Nieu, a 73 year-old man in An Hoa Commune, An Lao district also suffered from his wife's death from three years ago. "That night, my wife came back from medical examination. She said other patients told her that joint disease would only get worse. I didn't think that I would find her dead in our garden the next morning," he said.
There are also some suicide cases that seem hard to believe such as the case of Dinh Van H., former vice party secretary of An Quang Commune. After returning from his cousin's wedding, he killed himself because his wife refused to turn the TV off.
Since 2008, around 79 suicide cases, including 58 deaths and 21 prevented incidents have occurred in Vinh Thanh and An Lao districts. All of the victims were of Bana and Hre ethnic origin.
In late March, Binh Dinh Province authorities held a conference about causes and solutions to prevent suicide cases in An Lao and Vinh Thanh districts.
Dinh Yang Kinh, head of Vinh Thanh District's Commission for Mass Mobilisation said ethnic people was very proud so they were easily commit suicide when being drunk or shamed.
Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Phan Van Ket, vice head of Vinh Thanh Police added that when people could not figure out a solution for their disputes, depressed from illness, they would choose death as a form of release.
Authorities of the two districts have yet to develop any ideas on how to prevent the high suicide rate. Furthermore, some local organisations and unions still think that they are unlucky so they have high suicide rate and have not contributed much in easing civil conflicts in the areas.
Deputy Chairman of Binh Dinh People's Committee Ho Quoc Dung said many local authorities did not think much of the problem, they thought that suicides were family issues among ethnic people.
