PARENTS, guardians, teachers and church leaders need to be more sensitive and understanding of emotional matters affecting young people, in order to reduce the country’s high suicide rate.So said President David Granger
following discovery of the bodies of 14-year-old Sherryanne Alli and 21-year-old Deoraj Persaud hanging from a house at Lonsdale, East Bank Berbice.

As a result of the country’s latest suicide, the President convened an emergency meeting with Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton; Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence; Minister of Social Cohesion, Amna Ally; Minister within the Ministry of Health, Dr. Karen Cummings; Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe; and Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Dawn Hastings, at the Ministry of the Presidency to address the issue.

The President believes much more needs to be done to address the scourge of suicide. He said he is deeply concerned that the country’s suicide rate is higher than other countries’.

PLAN OF ACTION
A plan of action that will see non-governmental organisations (NGOs), religious organisations and other civil society organisations working together with government on a centralised approach to suicide prevention was discussed and will soon be implemented.

A statement from the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday said the President is looking to implement a national programme that will have measurable outcomes.

“During the meeting, the President was also updated on the implementation of Guyana’s National Suicide Prevention Strategy, launched by the Ministry of Public Health last September with a view to ramping up government’s response to the ongoing problem,” the Ministry of the Presidency stated.

The President told journalists on the weekly televised recording of ‘The Public Interest’ that much more needs to be done to fight the scourge of suicide, and he intends to bring together international and civil society organisations to ensure that all of the factors related to suicide are identified and addressed.

“I am concerned, as President, that Guyana has a higher rate of suicide than other countries. It is not as though there is an average around the world and we are just average. We are above average, and that is disturbing,” President Granger said.

IN THE HOME
He issued a call to parents, guardians, teachers and church leaders to be more sensitive and understanding of the emotional matters that affect young people. He said, “The church needs to be more careful; the home needs to be more careful; peers need to be more careful. It is a delicate period, but the state cannot bear the full burden of counselling. The home is where these matters should be resolved.”

President Granger said his administration intends to do all that is possible to reduce suicide. He noted that the circumstances and conditions under which people live need to be examined to understand the underlying factors responsible for Guyana’s high suicide rate.

SEARCH FOR CURES
“I intend to find out why we have so many suicides, and, once we identify those factors, try to use governmental action and try to get the efforts of civil society and households to put this scourge to an end. We are above normal, and I want to find out if it’s social, if it’s cultural, or if it’s economic; and (I want to) bring an end to it…

“We know what the disease is, let’s find out what the cures are,” President Granger said.