THE issue of suicide has bedevilled Guyana in the past few years and it cannot be more encouraging to see the administration putting forward a five-year plan to eliminate, if not bring the problem under control.From the news reports to the many unreported incidents, the scale of the scourge has pointed strongly to the need for urgent action. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), with a rate of 44.2 deaths per 100,000, Guyana is way above the global average of 11.4 per 100,000. And closer to the Region, Guyana is a runaway train as the average rate in Latin America and the Caribbean stands at 6.1 per cent per 100,000. These statistics paint a worrying picture of Guyana, but importantly, point to the need for all to join the fight to end the problem.
Equally important is the need for early intervention through the family to identify and encourage affected members to seek treatment. Many cases of suicide can be avoided if affected persons have a family member to whom they can openly speak or go to in times of crisis. It is the absence of this channel of communication that leads to a state of loneliness and hopelessness. From the plethora of reports in the public domain, these situations are generated by a number of factors and among them are broken relationships, depression, acute emotional distress, mental disorder, impulsivity, aggressive tendency and adolescent maladaptive disorder, and alcohol abuse.
Reasonably speaking, these are all issues which can be identified by family members, who at a very early stage should encourage the affected member to seek help, but without using strategy to belittle and embarrass. In no way should there be the belittlement of a friend or family member with a bad drinking habit or hurling insulting remarks at a teenager who gets pregnant would help in addressing his or her problem. What will help is the offering of guidance and support. Affected persons do not need insults and belittlement; they need to get out of their trap and for someone to help them identify their weaknesses and the solutions to stand them in good stead. At the level of the family, this is an approach which should be adopted as strong and united families are unlikely to be saddled with issues of drug, alcohol and other social maladies.
Guyana is not a perfect society; in fact, it is one with too many single parents and absentee fathers. So fixing the family structure is not a task that can be accomplished in a short space of time, but this is not to say that stronger enforcement cannot be made to reduce incidents of suicide. It is no secret that the majority of victims who commit suicide do so by ingesting a poisonous liquid, and as such, it cannot be over-emphasised that strong attention needs to be paid to the sale of pesticides. The government’s move to restrict the sale of harmful substances is indeed an encouraging step to addressing the problem of suicide, but ways should be examined to keep these substances out of the reach of farmers.
It might be useful for the authorities to consider the possibility of banning farmers from administering dangerous chemicals in their fields and institute a system where this service is provided to them but is factored into the cost when they purchase agro-chemicals.

The arrangement will see agents of licensed pesticide store going into the fields of farmers to administer the chemical, rather than farmers doing it themselves. Such an arrangement can be facilitated through vibrant community farmers’ extension groups, which can pool their resources to purchase the chemicals in bulk to reduce cost. As a pilot, the banning of farmers from the purchase of chemicals should be implemented in suicide hot spots such as Black Bush Polder, Mibicuri and Baramita where the majority of victims commit suicide by downing a poisonous substance.