Minister Cummings details Action Plan to tackle rising suicide rate in Guyana

BY DEVINA SAMAROO

The Public Health Ministry will be redoubling its efforts in the ongoing battle to bring the soaring suicide rates down through the introduction of several initiatives, including training of gatekeepers within communities, providing therapy sessions for suicide survivors, ensuring all health centres are equipped with social workers, and dispatching mental health officers to high-risked regions, among other schemes with the hope of providing the much-needed relief to the presumably increasing numbers of persons who feel they are in the depths of despair.

Guyana continues to grapple with a raging suicide contagion which continues to emotionally affect hundreds of persons and gravely impact the country’s economy and national social status.

With this in mind, Junior Public Health Minister, Dr Karen Cummings rose before the National Assembly during the Budget debates on Tuesday to express her concerns over the scourge that is more progressively plaguing the country.

“Guyana is a relatively small country with a very small population. Therefore to consider, this beautiful country having the highest suicide rate in the world, is frightening as much as it is worrying. Our people in relation to our population are taking their lives at an alarming rate. This situation needs to be arrested immediately,” Dr Cummings charged.

She explained that recent studies have already identified the most vulnerable areas and groups as well as the most preferred methods utilised by persons to commit suicide. Therefore, Government has decided that in order to combat the scourge of suicide, a national effort is required and will be accordingly pursued.

The Minister then detailed a list of 18 programmes and initiatives that are currently being undertaken by the Public Health Ministry in response to suicidal behaviour.

Among the most notable, Dr Cummings spoke of the Government’s intention to “identify and train gatekeepers in the community”. Recently, calls have been mounting for the reintroduction of the prestigious Gatekeepers’ Programme, which was successful in its efforts to curb the instances of suicide by applying mechanisms to train first responders in every community across the country to act as the eyes and ears of the neighbourhood to proactively identify warning signs and consequently intervene to provide the requisite help; and former Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy had indicated his willingness to assist in the streamlining of the project.

It is unclear if Dr Cummings was referring to the Gatekeepers Programme in her speech but from all indications, the measures proposed have similar features.

Another laudable measure is the creation of group therapy sessions for suicide survivors. Time and again calls have been sounded for more emphasis to be placed on counselling persons who attempted suicide in order to prevent a second attempt.

Based on observations, experts have gathered that a number of persons who committed suicide in Guyana had a record of previous attempts; however, no proper intervention was done and consequently, the individual did not get the essential help to restrain their suicidal tendencies.

The other programmes will focus mainly on training and capacity building of first responders and healthcare providers.

The Minister said Government will develop a protocol to provide guidance to primary healthcare workers on what they should do to assist the mentally ill; build capacity in health centres for healthcare workers and first responders through training; provide all health centres with a counsellor/social worker to visit at least once a week; develop a national trainers programme to identify high burden areas and launch a pilot programme to train trainers; dispatch mental health workers to the various regions to train a larger quantity of people; identify and train mental health workers to provide specialist care and refer patients to a multidisciplinary medical team; create a social safety net programme for vulnerable mental health patients; train first responders in mental health including the Police; and revise the curriculum for doctors and nurses to include a meaningful mental health component.

Other measures include improving health literacy through public awareness programmes; establish a crisis/wellness centre; and create “youth friendly spaces” and encourage persons to attend youth friendly forums.

The Public Health Ministry will also be approaching the Pan-American Health Organisation, the US Peace Corp, along with the University of Guyana for a curriculum development consultant to revise current curriculum for doctors and nurses to include mental health components.

During her speech, no mention was made of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into suicide which was first announced by Finance Minister Winston Jordan during the presentation of the National Budget on January 29.

According to the Finance Minister, the Inquiry will focus on data collection and research, including gathering epidemiological data, demographic information, and research on driving factors contributing to designated rates per region and analysis will be done at the regional and country levels, including maps and profiles for targeted interventions.