Syria: Children attempt suicide in Madaya as siege tightens

Medical staff in Syria’s Madaya have reported that at least six teenagers, one a girl as young as 12, and seven young adults have attempted suicide in the last two months.

Residents of the besieged town are suffering from psychological and mental illness problems – including depression and paranoia – and have limited access to basic medical treatment, Save the Children said.

Madaya has been under siege since July 2015; before the siege was imposed no cases of attempted suicide were reported. At least 250,000 Syrian children live under siege in the city.

Earlier this year it was reported that 65 residents in Madaya died from hunger and malnutrition after many of the town’s 40,000 residents were forced to eat insects, cats and wild plants to survive, which led to the opening of food and aid corridors. But the siege has since tightened and no humanitarian relief has entered Madaya since April.