Men in Malawi are hanging by a thread, suicide counts show with Police reporting that men accounted for at least four in five suicides since 2022.
Police recorded 95 cases from January to March this year. This includes 85 boys and men.
The tallies have stirred demands for safe spaces, a listening ear and solace for men to release their inner pain before the breakdown gets out of hand.
“These suicides are not peripheral social issues,” says Prestige Events Malawi director Chrispin Bondwe. “They sit at the heart of organisational productivity, family stability and national economic resilience.”
The events management firm has organised a men’s conference to break the culture of silence.
The Man in the Mirror conference, slated for July 3 at Apollo Auditorium in Blantyre, encourages men to openly discuss sticky issues for mental well-being, productive lives, stronger families and healthier communities.
“This conference is about encouraging men to look into the mirror, confront their realities and find support from fellow men who may be facing similar challenges,” says Bondwe.
The heart-to-heart conversation amplifies a growing realisation in corporate boardrooms, healthcare facilities, community chat groups, social media and civil society that Malawi’s men are dying in silence despite societal expectations portray them as strong, self-reliant and unbreakable.
Global trends show that men are up to three times more likely to die by suicide than women are.
Studies and police situation reports show 88 percent of suicides recorded in the country involve men.
According to clinical psychologist Chiwoza Bandawe, suicide remains underreported and “only one in 10 of those who need help do get it”.
During the event, he will give a keynote address, titled men’s mental health and work-related stress: Facing what we cannot afford to ignore.
High Court of Malawi Judge Allan Muhome will speak on wills, estate planning and the legacy men must not leave to chance.
Flipping the mirror towards sexuality, Zomba Central Hospital (ZCH) radiology technologist Moses Chipemba Soko will unpack prostate cancer and men’s reproductive health from “what the scans are telling us”.
ZCH head of urology Duncan Goche will speak on erectile dysfunction, infertility and enlarged prostate, as most men are afraid to seek answers when it comes to these sex-related conditions.
Bondwe said rising rates of prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction, infertility, work-related stress, marriage failure and financial insecurity fuel the breakdown in men’s mental health.
He stated: “These are not private tragedies, but organisational crises. They are economic losses. They are family collapses.
“They demand a national conversation—structured, evidence-based, expert-led and action-oriented”.
The organiser invited organisations and individuals to partner with them and book tables for their employees to make the event a success.
Man-to-man talks aside, the Friday programme will include a live band performance, poetry recitals and different beverages to make men relax.
The event managers plan to hold similar gatherings in all regions.
