Zhang Xihuan doesn't know what was going through her mind when she swallowed a mouthful of the pesticide stored behind the staircase in her home in rural Shandong province.
Maybe she was thinking of her neighbors who had ostracized her when she was diagnosed with hepatitis B. Or perhaps she was thinking of the hours spent scraping a living by collecting coal that had fallen on the road en route to nearby mines.
Regardless, when Xihuan brought the bottle of Yang Hua Le Guo pesticide to her lips in May 2009, she was doing what countless Chinese women had done before her and would do after: taking their own lives rather than face the harsh reality of their society. The only difference was that Xihuan would live to tell her story to the World Health Organization.
China accounts for 26 percent of suicides worldwide, according to WHO estimates. Suicide is the fifth leading cause of death in the country and the suicide rate in women is 25 percent higher than in men. Young rural women are most at risk and their poison of choice – or convenience – is pesticide.
More http://bit.ly/1HEOMWQ
'via Blog this'
No comments:
Post a Comment