Guyana and the pandemic

How has mental health in the South American country been affected during lockdown? According to the World Health Organisation Guyana has for years had one of the highest suicide rates anywhere in the world. So how has the country fared during the pandemic? Ed Butler speaks to Supriya Singh-Bodden, founder of a non-profit organisation The Guyana Foundation, set up to foster development in the country, to Meena Upeachehan who works as a councillor for The Guyana Foundation, and to women in the country who have been suffering depression and domestic abuse. Plus he speaks to Dr Christine Moutier, Chief Medical Officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention who says early data shows that suicides have not gone up globally during the pandemic but may rise in the second or third waves.

(Picture: Traditional wooden house on stilts in rural Guyana. Picture credit: Arterra/Marica van der Meer/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)