The Dean of the Faculty of Social Wellbeing at the University of Malta took to social media to raise the alarm of one of the island’s most hidden – yet horrific – issues: the rise of suicide.

After Andrew Azzopardi heard of the latest suicide, in a Maltese male, he shared an emotional yet serious 13-minute video breaking down just how serious this plight has become… and how the state isn’t doing enough to curb the tide.

“This country has lost all sense of ethics, values, priorities,” Azzopardi said. “We see terrible things happening around us and we just look away, something we never did before.”

With studies showing 54% of people in Malta suffer from some form of loneliness, Azzopardi urged authorities to look into what’s leading to this.

“While suicide is a personal issue, and that makes it complex… there are things happening around us that make you wonder if we realise that we are closing ourselves into this trap?”

He pointed towards new studies showing the rise of mental issues – from eating disorders to anxiety – among young people, and referred to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s statement that everyone in Malta had become more well-off than ever.

“And no one will ever trick me into thinking that we’ve all become sinjuri żgħar… when there’s people begging for food, trying to keep up with their bills, people relying on state help for food?

He even referred to an incident where a four-year-old boy made it clear he wasn’t happy and was feeling bad…. something Azzopardi said was shocking in such a young age. 

“And all this as counsellors cant keep up with what we have?”

He ended by urging that policies be put in place to ensure the situation doesn’t worsen.

“What we are doing when it comes to suicide, is we are just digging a hole,” he said. “And if we aren’t careful, not only will be deep in the hole – because we already are – but my fear is that we can’t keep digging, because we keep going deeper, we won’t be able to get out of this hole.”