Key Points

No major changes were observed during the COVID-19 crisis, either in terms of trends or in terms of the characteristics of those affected. However, this does not mean that the COVID-19 crisis has not had an impact on the mental health of Guyanese residents, as shown by a study conducted among the general population in the six municipalities of the Central Guyana Urban Community, where 36% of respondents stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their mental health.

• Emergency room activity: an average of 274 visits for suicidal behavior were recorded during the pre-pandemic period from 2017 to 2019 and 261 during the COVID-19 pandemic period from 2020 to 2021. Twice as many women sought emergency care, and more than half of the individuals were aged 11 to 24, with no significant change observed between the two periods.

• Hospitalizations for suicide attempts: an increase was observed starting in 2019 for both genders (an average of 143 annual hospitalizations between 2010 and 2019 versus 179 annual hospitalizations in 2020–2021). This increase, which began before the COVID-19 crisis, could be partly explained by the establishment of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center and improved care.

  • For the same age group, hospitalizations for suicide attempts are generally less frequent in French Guiana compared to France as a whole.

  • More than two-thirds of people hospitalized for suicide attempts in French Guiana are women.

  • Half of those hospitalized are aged 10 to 24.

  • The most common methods of suicide attempts were primarily drug overdose (as in France as a whole), followed by overdose with other substances, mainly herbicides (32.5 vs. 8.6 for France as a whole).

  • A downward trend in the use of hospital care during the first acute phase of the pandemic in March 2020 was not clearly observed in French Guiana compared to other years.

• Suicide mortality: the age-standardized suicide death rate is lower than that of France as a whole, but the situation in French Guiana, given its specific characteristics, reveals suicide as a major issue in the region. While suicide primarily affects older men in mainland France, in French Guiana women are also heavily affected, particularly young women. Among men, 32 of the suicides involved those under 30 (vs. 8 in France as a whole), and among women, 58 involved those under 30 (vs. 8 in France as a whole). Furthermore, since 2001, there has been a downward trend in the annual suicide rate across all age groups except for those under 30, for whom the rate was highest between 2011 and 2017, whereas it was among the lowest between 2005 and 2011.