View the full post Grenada continues to strengthen healthcare ties with US partners on NOW Grenada.

A sharp increase in self-harm and attempted suicide among young girls marks a deepening mental health emergency, with a government expert sounding the alarm that the true scope of the problem remains hidden.

Dr Joy Sue, consultant psychiatrist at the Ministry of Health and based at the Psychiatric Hospital in Black Rock, warned on Wednesday that these issues may represent only the surface of a much wider crisis affecting the nation’s young people, as males remain largely absent from those seeking assistance.

She explained that one of the main reasons for this troubling mental health trend is the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which is only now becoming apparent. 

“To tell you the truth, we have always seen a fair amount of cuttings, but it has increased. We had an increase in depressive anxiety [during COVID] for sure. And with that, we had an increase in persons who presented with cuttings and other forms of parasuicide or what we called self-harm, that is not necessarily meant to cause death.

“During COVID and post-COVID, those conditions increased. And the whole pandemic, and what came with the pandemic…meaning, the isolation, the online schooling, the lack of socialisation…we are only now seeing the fallout from that. Young people now have changed drastically from the way they behaved previously. I think a lot of it stems from that,” she said.

Addicted to devices

Dr Sue also addressed the addiction to mobile devices as a pressing mental health issue requiring intervention. 

She said: “There is a lot more of the digital world… It’s much more a part of their lives now. They are addicted to social media, and that can affect your self-esteem…. They are doing this social comparison thing…. For most people, it is something they put on, but social media is not real life. Or, they are getting bullied on social media. All of that is a part of it. They were isolated all of that time during COVID, they did not have the social support necessary, so they weren’t adapting.”

Extending her concern about social media’s pervasive influence, Dr Sue added: “Even lying down next to each other, people are on their devices.”

Silent struggle 

Dr Sue revealed that the majority of new clients she now sees are young people ranging from their early teens to age 35, further underlining how social and emotional challenges are affecting an entire generation.

She highlighted the importance of the home environment: “They didn’t just get depressed overnight. A lot of them have a lot of trauma dating back from childhood.”

Eating disorders and gender disparities

Eating disorders were flagged by Dr Sue as another disturbing trend, especially among young females seeking help. “You are going to have poor health outcomes later on. With all of these NCDs [non-communicable diseases] that we are talking about, it is going to put them at risk.”

The psychiatrist clarified that eating disorders are rarely the primary concern brought to her by clients, but emerge as a secondary diagnosis discovered during consultations: “They are not seeing me for eating on its own. So they usually are seeing me because of some kind of depressive anxiety. Eating habits is something that is a secondary diagnosis that is discovered when I speak to them, but not necessarily the reason why they are presenting.”

Asked about males turning up with eating disorders, Dr Sue noted: “You don’t get as many males presenting for depressive anxiety. That is from most females.

“There are a variety of reasons. The fact is that it is more common [for females] because of hormonal reasons. But that’s not the only reason. It could be cultural too. It is not that males aren’t experiencing that…but culturally, how ready females are to come forward and access services for something like that…which is not what the act says about males culturally. So, if males are going through something like that, culture says: ‘Suck it up, I am man, be strong;’ and perhaps because the males aren’t coming forward, we are not getting complaints from the males because they simply aren’t talking about it.”

This, she suggested, means the nation may be unaware of the true picture of mental health in Barbados, with women always more likely to seek help: “We are always trying to get to be the ones to come forward. A lot of emphasis is placed on males.”

Dr Sue emphasised the risks of men not seeking support: “The eating disorders in the men are associated with the other things that females also have. Don’t forget the males are the ones that are disproportionate by suicide as well. All those factors could contribute to increased risks, not only for NCDs, but for more severe mental health outcomes.”

Troubled home environments, missing girls

Touching on the possible link between mental health issues originating at home and the phenomenon of girls going missing, Dr Sue reflected on her work at the Government Industrial School (GIS) female section.

“The persons who were the perpetrators were [getting away] scot-free, while these girls were locked up. I always used to think this was foolishness. They are punishing them when they are victims and their rebellious behaviour is because of something that happened to them and those persons who did these things, they aren’t punished. 

“When they are finished with [the Government Industrial School], they got to go back into the same household because they don’t have anywhere else to go. They are back into the same problems that were never resolved. A vicious cycle.” 

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

The post Isolation driving surge in self-harm, anxiety among youth, says doc appeared first on Barbados Today.

By Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance

Barbados has made impressive progress in reducing smoking rates—the lowest in the Caribbean region—but there is still work to do. The stark difference between men’s and women’s smoking rates shows that targeted, practical solutions could push smoking down even further. As the global tobacco control community prepares for COP11, Barbados has a unique chance to push for smarter policies that reflect real-world success and science.

Harm reduction offers an alternative to the traditional all-or-nothing approach. Instead of demanding everyone quit nicotine altogether, which many struggle to do, harm reduction provides safer options like vaping, nicotine pouches and heat-not-burn products. These alternatives avoid burning tobacco, which produces the harmful smoke that leads to cancer, heart disease, and other deadly illnesses. The science is clear: remove the smoke, reduce the harm.

Worldwide, places that have embraced harm reduction—like Sweden, the UK, New Zealand and Japan—have rapidly cut smoking rates. Millions of smokers have successfully switched to these safer choices. Yet, despite this evidence, global tobacco control institutions often dismiss harm reduction as unproven or risky, ignoring the voices of consumers and smaller countries whose needs differ from those of wealthier nations. Instead, large donors and entrenched interests dominate the agenda.

Barbados should not accept being overlooked. The country’s experience and perspective are vital. COP11 presents the chance to lead, demanding a working group focused on tobacco harm reduction, mirroring Barbados’s recent global leadership on biodiversity. This group would ensure ongoing, evidence-based discussions, allow like-minded countries to collaborate, and prevent one-size-fits-all policies that ignore science and real lives.

Supporting harm reduction means rejecting blanket bans on less harmful products, tailoring rules to reflect true risk, and insisting on transparent negotiations where consumers who have benefited from these tools are heard. Tobacco control must evolve to put outcomes over ideology.

Barbados already has strong tobacco control laws and a balanced approach to vaping regulation. Promoting cessation support and harm reduction will build on this foundation, saving lives and accelerating progress. With an already low smoking rate of 6.4%, Barbados can follow Sweden and become the next smoke-free nation.

Speaking up at COP11 will set Barbados apart as a leader among smaller countries demanding science, fairness, and inclusion in global policy. The world needs voices like Barbados’s that prioritise people over politics.

The global health community faces a crucial choice: resist change and prolong suffering, or embrace proven, compassionate strategies that reduce harm. Barbados can help tip the scale toward progress. This moment calls for courage and clarity. Barbados can show leadership by backing harm reduction and making sure its people have access to safer choices. The world is watching. Now is the time for Barbados to act.

The post Barbados can shape the future of tobacco control appeared first on Barbados Today.

The GFNC shares simple post-Carnival nutrition tips: good nutrition, proper hydration, and rest are key to a speedy recovery

View the full post Ah-choo and you: Beating the post-carnival cold on NOW Grenada.

View the full post Grenada shines at Caribbean Association of Pharmacists Conference on NOW Grenada.

View the full post Facing reality: Why our Age of Civil Responsibility Bill matters on NOW Grenada.

Caribbean health authorities have been warned that unless the region urgently overhauls how health data is collected and applied, efforts to prevent and control outbreaks of diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika will be undermined, a top public health expert said Tuesday.

Director of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), Dr Horace Cox, spoke to Barbados TODAY on the sidelines of a regional workshop being hosted at Blue Horizon Hotel. The training session, attended by health professionals from across the region, is focused on boosting the Caribbean’s collective capacity to predict, detect and respond to vector-borne diseases (VBDs).

He noted that although much has been done in recent years to improve data use in drafting public health policies, strengthening data quality and improving how it is applied in decision-making should be seen as the critical point in the region’s preparedness strategy.

Dr Cox said: “We are coming up with innovative tools at the Caribbean Public Health Agency in conversation with key stakeholders such as those in Barbados, that these tools can help to give us an early signal that something is about to happen. Once that’s the case, we trust that this can advance our preparedness not only as a nation in Barbados but also as a region and, by extension, our level of resilience to the public health threats that we continue to face.” 

Much of the workshop, he noted, is about ensuring participants understand both the technical and practical value of high-quality information in safeguarding public health.

“Here we’re teaching the different participants about the importance of improving data quality, because we can come up with all of these fancy tools, but it’s what’s fed into them [that’s] important,” he said.

“Then also we’re building capacity on the use of risk assessment tools because we want them to be able to appreciate the level of risk and also to understand how the public health actions will be commensurate with that level of risk that’s assessed.”

According to Dr Cox, CARPHA and its partners are working on new models that will give health authorities more accurate early warning systems. However, these can only be successful if regional countries have the right infrastructure and ensure that the data being reported is both consistent and reliable.

“There’s been a lot of advancement in terms of the Caribbean getting better quality data using standardised tools that would harmonise the data sets across the board and ensure that they can speak to one another at the time when we’re attempting to do different analyses,” he said.

“Even though we’ve had these successes, it’s important for us to think about the next step. How could we ensure that these changes are institutionalised and that they become part of the culture?”

He stressed that the ultimate goal is not simply about producing large datasets or building new databases, but about ensuring that the data is properly analysed and used to guide real-world public health decisions.

“It’s not just about collecting data and having the best data package available to us, but it’s how to extract the information from it and to use it to inform public health action, and that’s the essence of it,” Dr Cox explained. “We want it to be a process that is smooth, that not only reflects very robust data systems, but also the translation of that evidence and the use of the evidence to inform public health action.”

At the most practical level, he added, the importance of good data must resonate beyond health professionals and policymakers, reaching right down to communities and families.

“When the data is collected, we want to ensure that you, at the very level of the community, understand how you’re using that data to ensure that you do the necessary preventive measures to protect not only you but your family and by extension the broader community,” he said. (SB)

The post Caribbean urged to strengthen health data to combat rise in vector-borne disease appeared first on Barbados Today.

On 26 August 2025, the General Hospital received donations valued at EC$308,000 from the GHTA through its Tourism Enhancement Fund

View the full post GHTA donates over EC$300,000 in supplies to General Hospital on NOW Grenada.

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Republic has relaunched its “Let’s Beat Dengue” campaign, following a significant decline in reported cases this year. So far, 171 infections have been confirmed with no deaths, compared to 1,110 cases and 12 fatalities during the same period in 2024—an 85% reduction. By contrast, in 2023 the country faced one of its worst outbreaks, recording over 28,000 cases and more than 60 deaths.

Health Minister Víctor Atallah attributed the progress to prevention efforts, community engagement, and coordinated work with Provincial Health Directorates. He stressed that the new campaign, under the slogan “Eliminate, clean, and cover up,” will place stronger emphasis on public education and mosquito breeding site elimination to sustain the gains achieved.

The initiative includes educational workshops, fumigation campaigns, junk removal, larvicide distribution, and the “Anti-Dengue Family” program with the Ministry of Education and PAHO, training students and teachers as community advocates.

Port-au-Prince, (EFE).- Pregnant women in Haiti are giving birth in unsanitary camps without medical care, often struggling to feed themselves and their newborns. Many pregnancies are the result of gang rapes, as armed groups now control most of Port-au-Prince. A UN report documented at least 628 cases of sexual violence between April and June, including sexual slavery, trafficking, and child exploitation.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) warns that Haiti’s health system is on the brink of collapse, after years of conflict, looting, and financial breakdown. With 1.3 million people displaced and over 5.7 million suffering from acute hunger, pregnant women and new mothers remain among the most vulnerable, facing malnutrition and life-threatening conditions without adequate aid.