‘It’s a huge sign of progress’: the battle to decriminalise suicide

Decriminalising suicide removes barriers to seeking help for mental health problems and rates tend to then decline, research shows. Photograph: Shotshop GmbH/Alamy

When Ghana’s parliament voted to decriminalise suicide and attempted suicide in March, Prof Joseph Osafo felt a weight lift from his shoulders.

Osafo, head of psychology at the University of Ghana, had been engaged in a near 20-year battle to abolish the law – brought in by the British – which stated that anyone who attempts suicide should face imprisonment or a fine.