Dear Editor,
Thanks to Stabroek News for publishing the numbers of the Guyana Interagency Suicide Prevention hotline when there are suicide reports.
There was a workshop conducted by PAHO/WHO and the Guyana Press Association to discuss media guidelines on 29/30 May 2016. The discussions which were held, and the draft guidelines which were formulated encouraged the media that if they felt the need to report individual cases of suicide, then there should be some focus on keeping prevention in mind. And one such way in Guyana is publishing the numbers every time.
The guidelines should probably be published when they are finalized so that the public could be aware of them. There might be media houses and journalists who will not endorse them. There might be members of the public who are interested in all the details of the last days and moments of a suicide case. At the same time, there is a need to know about what is available to prevent suicide. The Government in parliament recently listed a series of things which are in place, and the public might be encouraged to access those services and programmes if the media helps to share news about them and their impact.
Yours faithfully,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
