THE Ministry of Health is seeking to develop and implement strategies aimed at reducing and preventing the incidence of suicide in Guyana.
Suicide is recognised as a serious public health issue in Guyana with averages between 150 to 200 deaths annually.
According to statistics from the ministry, during 2003-2007, there were 946 reported suicide deaths in Guyana which translates to a suicide rate of 25 per 100,000 persons.
A most striking observation was that 80 percent of all suicides deaths are males and 60 percent of them are attributable to pesticide poisoning.
The statistics indicate that suicide is the leading cause of death among young people age 15-24 and the third leading cause of death among persons age 25-44.
Among youths, aged 15-19, suicide is the leading cause of death among females and the second leading cause of death among males.
Highest numbers of completed suicides are consistently found in Regions Four and Six when compared to the rest of the country.
Suicide rates are consistently highest in Region Six (50 suicide deaths per 100,000 persons) followed by Region Two (36 deaths).
Region Three has the third highest suicide rate in the country (24 deaths) followed closely by Region Five with 22 deaths and Region Four with 20 suicides.

These statistics highlight the need to develop and implement effective suicide prevention strategies but unfortunately, there are few well-conducted studies nationally and globally on interventions for suicide prevention that have demonstrated efficacy in reducing suicide rates.

Extensive reviews of the evidence for effectiveness of suicide prevention strategies support gatekeeper training, physician education in depression recognition and treatment; and restricting access to lethal methods as effective interventions.

In 2001, the Ministry of Health completed its first National Suicide Prevention Strategy for Guyana which has undergone revision and highlights primary areas including; identification, diagnosis and treatment of substance abuse, gatekeeper training in Suicide Risk Assessment and establishment of a crisis hotline.

In September 2009, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) hosted a two-day workshop on the Prevention and Control of Suicide Behaviour in Georgetown.
The workshop was facilitated by Dr M. Taghi Yasamy, from the Mental Health Department of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Headquarters, Mental Health Sub-Regional Advisor, Devora Kestel, President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention Dr Brian Mishara and Ministry of Health Mental Health Advisor and Director of International Psychiatry Dalhousie University, Dr Sonia Chehil.
Among the participants were 30 representatives from Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
The objectives included understanding suicide as a priority public health problem, a review of regional suicide data trends across countries in the Caribbean, to gain an appreciation of the unique factors related to suicide and to provide a framework from which to critically appraise suicide prevention literature.
This workshop provided the Dalhousie/MOH team with the opportunity to review the suicide prevention initiatives ongoing in Guyana with regional and global experts in the field of suicide prevention.
It also provided the forum to review the activities for scaling up mental health through gatekeeper training as identified in the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.
The suicide gatekeepers training initiative was reviewed by Dr Brian Mishara; an international expert in the gatekeeper intervention who provided technical input into the training components and methods.
Dr Mishara was engaged by the MOH to assist with the training initiative that was underway as part of the national suicide prevention strategy.
In collaboration with Dr Mishara, the Dalhousie/ MOH team finalise the gatekeeper training requirements and training programme components for community organisations as well as the Suicide Risk Assessment and Mitigation training requirements and training program components for Primary Health Care workers and Specialty Mental Health workers in Guyana.

In January 2010, five workshops were conducted by Dr. Brian Mishara. The workshops focused on developing clinical competencies of understanding suicide, including risk and protective factors, conducting a suicide risk assessment and using appropriate clinical skills to reduce suicide risk in an intervention with suicidal persons.
Four of the five workshops conducted in 2010, were conducted in Regions Two, Four and Six for doctors, nurses and medex.
The MOH has identified eight persons to become trainers in the programme and the certification of three persons as gatekeepers.
On June 8, 110 persons from Region Six were trained as gatekeepers for suicide prevention including religious leaders, teachers, farmers, police officers, community workers and agriculture workers.
The training was held at Albion Community Centre where persons from Lower and Middle Corentyne were targeted.
The following day, training was held at Mibicuri Community Developers targeting persons from Black Bush Polder and on June 10 training was held at the Corriverton Civic Centre targeting persons from Upper Corentyne.
These trainings will be facilitated by three of the Ministry of Health officials trained as suicide gatekeepers in March of this year. (GINA)