THREE Government Ministers yesterday participated in a joint meeting of the High Level Policy Committee and the Operational Committee of the Crime and Social Observatory, at Georgetown Club, on Camp Street in the city.

Ministers of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee led the discussions but Minister of Labour, Mr. Manzoor Nadir also took part.
They were all accompanied by officials of their respective Ministries to decide on the criteria for determining suicides.
Ramsammy described suicide as a developmental issue that is not a unique Guyanese problem but one that exists all over the world.
He said, in most developing countries, it remains on the books as a crime but his ministry always approached it as a public health problem.
Ramsammy said this country is ranked high among the countries with high suicide rates but it appears that way because Guyana is an open book, unlike the under reporting in many.
He said, here, 95 per cent of suicides result from the ingestion of pesticides, which, alone, accounts for around 70 per cent, leaving the remainder to hanging.
Consequently, an important part of the programme to prevent suicide is “means reduction” that includes the safer storing of pesticides to make them less accessible, an initiative that targets farmers as well as families, Ramsammy posited.
Noting that the reasons for suicide are complex, including social, behavioural and environmental, he said his ministry is employing the use of “follow back methodology”, a technique experts use to do a post mortem on people’s lives from their birth onwards to the point where they attempted to kill themselves.
Ramsammy said the expertise was enlisted from the Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide and Euthanasia (CRISE) at University of Quebec, Montreal, as Canada has a suicide rate that is double Guyana’s.
He praised the collaboration between the two local Ministries, agreeing it would help establish the basis of suicide prevention.
GATEKEEPERS
Ramsammy said gatekeepers are important and his ministry has been working to  sensitise the population, so that communities can become part of the anti-suicide strategy.

He announced that a gatekeeper training programme is being continuously advanced, with the objective of making community gatekeepers for suicide prevention, because it is imperative for them to have their eyes open for those who may be at risk and identify potential problems.
Rohee concurred that suicide is a serious social issue and the Ministries are collaborating to resolve the disparities such as in data, criteria and conclusions.
He said the Ministries planned yesterday to review procedures for recording suicides, sharing knowledge and experiences, discussing a surveillance system and recommending priority actions to be taken.
Police Commissioner Henry Greene underscored the importance of statistics in the world today.
He praised the two Ministries for collaboration as data and standards should balance.
Minister of Labour, Mr. Manzoor Nadir, who was also present, admitted it is important to have consensus on joint action.
The first National Suicide Prevention Strategy, drafted in 2001, has, since, been revised.