Figures give shocking picture of violent death

ONE person commits suicide roughly every 40 seconds, one person is murdered every 60 seconds and one person dies in armed conflict every 100 seconds, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

Overall, WHO estimated that 1.6 million people met premature and ugly deaths in 2000.

In what it described as the most exhaustive international study into the problem, the UN health agency highlighted the extent of violence in the home and on the street, abuse of children and the elderly, suicide and war.