Suicide in the Bahamas (2000-2013)
The occurrence of suicide and suicidal attempts in the Bahamas should be a major public health concern. In the past decade, there has been a fluctuating trend in the number of suicides. For instance, there were six suicides that occurred in 2011, eleven (11) in 2012 and six in 2013. In regards to suicidal attempts, there were 207 people admitted to the government mental health facilities for attempting suicide in 2010. In 2011, there were 194 persons admitted and in 2012, there were 250 persons admitted for suicidal attempts (Figures 1 and 2). To understand whether this is a developing trend in our country, we need to collect accurate data for the next three years. The occurrence of suicide is not just a concern in the Bahamas. Suicide is now the tenth leading cause of death in the United States (Drexler, 2013). There are now more deaths from suicides than car accidents (Parker-Pope, 2013). In its first report on suicide, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised that one person commits suicide every 40 seconds. In fact, each year, suicides account for 800,000 of the 1.5 million violent deaths. Guyana, North and South Korea have the highest suicide rates (44.2, 38.5 and 28.9, respectively). The UN proposes to cut the national suicide rates by 10% by 2020 (Organization, 2014).
