Black Immigrant Daily News

On Caribbean Wellness Day (September 10), the CEO of Supreme Counselling for Personal Development Shawn Clarke admits that he is “very concerned” about the number of suicides that have happened in Barbados for a small population of this size in recent months and the past few years.

If we refuse to go back to the drawing board, we are going to continue losing our males

Speaking to Loop News on the sidelines of the Wellness Day event organised by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Clarke, who is also a member on the National Task Force for Wellness, said:

“I’m very, very concerned about the suicides. I think we have to put mechanisms, and systems in place to try to encourage our males to come forward and to talk about things that are concerning to them. As families, we have to teach our males, our young males that it is okay to cry, it is okay to talk.”

He said that it cannot continue as business as usual, with people sweeping the incidents under the carpet until the next one occurs.

Clarke asserted better must be done now to prevent more disastrous outcomes.

“If we refuse to go back to the drawing board, we are going to continue losing our males. It is very concerning and it is something we need to take stock of.”

Therefore he said there must be a cultural shift away from making Bajan boys and men feel as though they have no release or respite, no safe spaces to show their emotions and safely expel negative thoughts.

Asked if and why he believes Bajan men and women cope with stress differently, especially with more males seeming to be the victims of suicide in more recent times, he agreed “yes” and explained that it has to do with the variations in the upbringing of the sexes.

“I think females are allowed to talk, to share with your girlfriends, your family members and so on, but for males, we’re supposed to be strong, supposed to keep everything on the inside, we’re supposed to be strong, we’re supposed to be manly. We are not supposed to do anything that persons would consider us less than a male. So I think because of that in the end we keep everything on the inside and it is almost like putting garbage in a garbage can…you continue to put garbage in that can…eventually that can is going to fill, it’s going to overflow…and that is what typically happens to males where we try to keep everything bottled up on the inside until we can no longer handle it.”

September is also Suicide Prevention Month in some countries around the globe.

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Convicted kidnapper Phillip “The Boss” Boodram and two unidentified men have been killed in a police-involved shooting in Esperanza, Couva.

A police report said Central Division CID and Gang Unit officers were chasing robbery suspects in a van shortly after 1 pm on Saturday.

The officers tried to intercept the van, but the occupants shot at them. The report said the officers returned fire, hitting the three occupants.

The van came to a halt, and the injured men were taken to the Couva health facility, where doctors declared them dead. The police also found three loaded guns.

Boodram, of California in Couva, was released from prison in June. He and four co-accused — Roger Mootoo, Ricky Singh, Kervin Williams, and Aaron Grappie — were convicted of the 2005 kidnapping of businesswoman Samdaye Rampersad.

Rampersad, of Petit Bourg in San Juan, was allegedly buried alive. Her body was found 41 days after the kidnapping in a shallow grave in a cashew field in Carolina Village, Claxton Bay.

Boodram and the four co-accused spent almost 17 years in jail.

Saturday’s killings was the second fatal shootout with police in the Central Division in the past few days.

On Thursday, at around 11 pm, the police shot and killed Ricky “Ross” Taylor, Ronelle Alexander, and Kwame “Tusty” Wallace at Enterprise Street, Enterprise in Chaguanas.

The police said the men shot at the officers, who returned fire, hitting the three men. The police found two guns.

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PARAMARIBO — Inus A. (35 jaar), Revelino M. (33), Shawn M. (26) en de negentienjarige Rockey K. zijn in de

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With the monkeypox vaccine being in high demand and available doses being gobbled up by wealthy countries, Jamaica is set to receive just 3,500 doses by month-end.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton provided the update during Tuesday’s sitting of the House of Representatives. He said the acquisition is being facilitated through collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) which announced this week that it has secured 100,000 doses from the Danish manufacturers.

“We are advised that the manufacturers of the smallpox vaccine that has been shown to be effective in protecting persons from moneypox has supplied limited amounts to the market and, as such, only approximately 3,500 doses of the vaccine have been promised to us. It is to be noted that we may not receive this amount, as the supply of the vaccine is in high demand with very limited supply,” Tufton said.

He said that in order to maximise the use of the vaccine and achieve the objectives of containment, Cabinet has given approval for administering the vaccine in this phase, as a post-exposure prophylaxis.

“The vaccine, once in country, will be administered only to persons who come into close contact with a diagnosed patient. These persons would include healthcare workers involved in direct care of monkeypox patients… and household contacts of confirmed cases, to include sexual partners,” Tufton explained

He added that once the country receives more doses of the vaccine, the prioritisation method will be refined, and the public will be advised.

“We have been advised by PAHO that it is not anticipated that additional doses will be made available to Jamaica before 2023,” the minister disclosed.

Meanwhile, PAHO Director, Dr Carissa Etienne, said the organisation is finalising arrangements for the acquisition of the 100,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccines from biotechnology firm Bavarian Nordic, for distribution to Latin American and Caribbean member countries.

Etienne said PAHO secured an agreement through its Revolving Fund facility, with Bavarian Nordic, which is headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark. She said this followed requests from member countries for support in accessing doses, which were made during a special session of the PAHO Directing Council in August, noting that 12 such were submitted.

“We are receiving the final logistical details, such as estimates for freight and insurance, and the deliveries will be prioritised based on the epidemiological situation in countries. So partial delivery to countries that requested will start, now, in September… making our region the first World Health Organisation (WHO) region to make monkeypox vaccines available to member states,” Etienne further informed.

“Our effort will permit countries in this region to access the vaccine, even in small quantities, which would not have been possible otherwise,” she added.

The director was speaking during PAHO’s digital media briefing on September 7 where she noted that the region of the Americas has the unenviable distinction of recording the highest number of confirmed monkeypox cases globally, since the WHO declared the disease a health emergency of international concern in July.

“As of September 6, over 30,000 monkeypox cases have been reported in the Americas, with most cases concentrated in the United States of America, Brazil, Peru and Canada. Thus far, most confirmed cases are among men… although at least 145 cases have been reported in women, and 54 cases among people under the age of 18,” she told journalists.

Additionally, the director said four monkeypox-related deaths have, so far, been reported in Brazil, Cuba and Ecuador.

Monkeypox is a rare disease resulting from infection by the monkeypox virus. The monkeypox virus is a zoonotic disease and is part of the family of viruses known as variola virus, which causes smallpox.

The symptoms are similar to those characteristic of smallpox, but milder; monkeypox is deemed rarely fatal.

The signs and symptoms associated with the disease include fever, chills, intense headache, extreme exhaustion, muscle and backaches, swollen lymph nodes and a rash that usually appears one to three days after the onset of the fever.

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