[2] Domestic data on suicide in Guyana is limited, as the country's available health literature is focused mainly on infectious tropical diseases.
Most of suicides result from poisoning, primarily from agricultural pesticides.
[4] Attempts by the government to address the issue have been stymied by political divisions.
A bill was voted down in 2016 which would have amended the country's laws in order to decriminalize suicide, implemented the 2014 Mental Health Strategic Plan and a five-year National Suicide Prevention Plan which were both crafted by the previous government, and allocated funds to treat mental health and suicide as national priorities.
Speakers for the parliamentary majority argued that the manner in which the legislation was framed both politicized and trivialized the issue.