| – Health MinisterThe highest number of suicide deaths is consistently found in Region Six when compared to the rest of the country. This revelation was made by Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who noted that the suicide rate in Region Six is characterised by some 50 deaths per 100,000 persons.This startling statistic is followed closely by 36 suicide deaths per 100,000 persons in Region Two. Region Three is ranked third highest with 24 deaths per 100,000 persons and is followed closely by Regions Five and Four with 22 and 20 respectively per 100,000 persons.According to the Minister, suicide is recognised as a serious public health issue in Guyana. In fact, Guyana averaged between 150-200 suicide deaths per year during the period 2003-2007. There were 946 reported suicide deaths in Guyana which translate to a suicide rate of 25 deaths per 100,000 persons. Eighty percent of the victims were males and 60 percent of all suicide deaths are attributable to pesticide poisoning. Suicide is the leading cause of death among young people, aged 15-24 and the third leading cause of death among persons aged 25-44. Among youth, aged 15-19,Cheap NFL Jerseys, suicide is the leading cause of death among females and the second leading cause of death among males.And it is the belief of the Health Minister that “these statistics highlight the need to develop and implement effective suicide prevention strategies. Unfortunately, there are few well conducted studies nationally and globally on interventions for suicide prevention that have demonstrated efficacy in reducing suicide rates.”According to the Minister, 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. This strategy has since undergone revision and currently highlights primary areas for prevention intervention including: reducing access to lethal means, identification, diagnosis and treatment (rehabilitation) of substance abuse, physician education – early identification, intervention and treatment for attempted suicide, gatekeeper training in suicide risk assessment, establishment of a crisis hotline, completion of the Guyana suicide Follow-Back Study.In September 2009, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) hosted a two-day workshop on the Prevention and Control of Suicide Behaviour. The workshop was facilitated by Dr M. Taghi Yasamy from the Mental Health Department of the WHO headquarters; Ms. Devora Kestel, PAHO/WHO Mental Health Sub-Regional Advisor; Dr. Brian Mishara, President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and Dr. Sonia Chehil, Mental Health Advisor to the Health Ministry/Director International Psychiatry Dalhousie University. Participants included 30 representatives from Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The workshop had provided the Dalhousie/Health Ministry 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 had also served to provide a 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 with Dr. Brian Mishara; an international expert in the Suicide Gatekeeper intervention who provided technical input into the training components and methods. Dr. Mishara was engaged by the Ministry to assist with the gatekeeper training initiative which comes as part of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. In collaboration with Dr. Mishara, the Dalhousie/MOH team finalised the Gatekeeper training requirements and training programme components for community organisations as well as the Suicide Risk Assessment and Mitigation training requirements and training programme components for Primary Health Care workers and Specialty Mental Health workers in Guyana.The Health Ministry had identified eight persons to become ‘Trainers’ in the programme. These persons had participated in the training workshops with Dr. Brian Mishara. The training programme led to the certification of three persons to become gatekeepers.However, training commenced earlier this month for a total of 110 persons from Region Six who will also be trained as gatekeepers for suicide prevention. These persons include religious leaders, teachers, farmers, police officers, community workers and agricultural workers.On June 8 last, 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 will be held at the Corriverton Civic Centre targeting persons from Upper Corentyne.These trainings were facilitated by the three Ministry of Health officials trained as suicide gatekeepers’ trainers in March of this year. |
