Study finds restricting access to firearms, pesticides, could prevent suicide deaths in the Caribbean

The Pan-American Health Organization says a new study has found that restricting access to pesticides and firearms could prevent over 120,000 suicide deaths in the Americas, including the Caribbean, over a decade. 

The study was published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas.

The research, conducted in collaboration with experts from PAHO and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada, suggested that, if restrictions on access to firearms or pesticides were applied in countries where they accounted for 40 per cent or more of suicides, the mortality rate could be reduced by over 20 per cent among males and 11 per cent among females by 2030.