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Samantha Chigogo Herald Correspondent
MORE Harare residents committed suicide in 2014, with statistics released by the City Health Department showing that those who killed themselves were aged between 25 and 44.

The City Health Committee told a full council meeting on Thursday that suicide cases increased from 63 in 2013 to 86 last year. “The number of suicides had increased to 86 from 63 in 2013 and the most were hanging, gunshots and carbonate poisoning,” the committee said in its report.

Reasons for the upsurge were not stated.

The committee said HIV, pneumonia, cardinal and renal failure were among top five killer diseases in the city, including cerebral vascular accidents. It commended the decrease in reported cases of sexually-transmitted diseases by 15 percent from 5 742 in 2013 to 4 486 in 2014.

Council managed to complete the Budiriro Phase 5 and Kuwadzana Phase 5 Polyclinic projects. The committee expressed concern over the upsurge of informal activities, mainly illegal vending, in the city. It also raised alarm over the deterioration of council properties, especially residential flats in Mbare.

The committee said it was unhappy with the level of water pollution at Chivero as this translates to increased purification costs. It said over 1.6 million people now lived in Harare.