Author name: Beauty

What should happen when someone survives a suicide attempt?

They should be met with care, safety and support. Yet across parts of Africa, the law has historically offered a very different response: punishment.

As countries begin to reconsider these laws, an important question follows. What happens after suicide is no longer treated as a crime? Decriminalisation can remove the threat of punishment, but it cannot, on its own, build the systems people need when they are in crisis.

This feature explores what changing suicide laws across Africa reveal about mental health, human dignity and the systems of care we build around people in their most difficult moments.