Poison preferred method of suicide in Guyana
Photo Credit: Guyana Chronicle

In his article, “Guyana’s breakdown is connected to our high suicide rate,” published in Kaieteur News on February 6, 2016, Freddie Kissoon posits that an underlying cause of Guyana’s alarming suicide rate is “the political pessimism that has dogged this country since Independence.” Bear in mind that the controversial columnist, a former social science university lecturer, has been highly critical of the former ruling East Indian left-wing political party (1992-2015).

A small developing Caribbean nation with a declining population of less than 750,000 people (Census 2012), Guyana topped the chart of the World Health Organization’s 2014 report on suicide worldwide, based on data for the year 2012. With a suicide rate of 44.2 per 100,000 persons, Guyana beat South Korea (28.9) and Sri Lanka (28.8). At the time, Guyana’s health authority claimed a much lower rate of 34.7. The nation’s record represented almost four times the global average of 11.4 and over seven times the average of 6.1 for Latin American and the Caribbean. By gender, Guyanese men are much more prone to taking their lives than women with rates of 70.8 and 22.1, respectively. Continue reading →