September is National Suicide Prevention Month and according to data suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 10-34, with more than 700,000 people dying by suicide each year globally.
A release from (TVC) The Caribbean Voice said among Caribbean nations Guyana suicide is still a huge issue with the latest WHO figures indicating the second-highest suicide rate, while Suriname is at number eight.
On the flip side St Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, and Honduras are among the top ten nations with the lowest suicide rate.
The coronavirus pandemic has created a mental health crisis with suicide among mental health issues that have been directly impacted, rising significantly globally, after initially decreasing because of the lockdown.
What is very revealing, the release said, is while that rate for females is 17.4, for males, it is 63, a huge disparity.
Attempted suicides are up to 20 times more frequent than completed ones while globally it is estimated that 25 per cent or more suicides go unreported. As well, currently one out of every 100 deaths occur by suicide, and the World Health Organization aims to reduce the rate of suicide to a third by 2030.
