2 months ago
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The newly released findings of Belize’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS7) are raising fresh concerns about youth mental health across the country. According to the data, 6.7 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety, a troubling indicator of increasing emotional and psychological strain. Among those affected, an overwhelming 90 percent reported that their mental health challenges interfere with their ability to carry out daily activities such as schoolwork, chores, or social interactions. Despite these significant impacts, fewer than 10 percent of youths experiencing these conditions seek professional assistance.
Wendy Benavides, Statistician, SIB: “The mental health module was administered to this group of persons. That’s a group that we were focusing on although we needed to have amplified it and taken it a lot to other groups of persons. These are not, well this one specifically is not an SDG indicator but are important MICS indicators for it was vital to measure as anxiety and depression are among the greatest contributors to years lived with disability for adolescents. The 2024 results showed that 6.7% of men and women 15 to 24 years experience symptoms of depression or anxiety. Symptoms of depression refer to feeling sad or in a depressed mood, not finding things enjoyable, easily annoyed or irritated, feeling hopeless, changes in appetite and so on. Among symptoms of anxiety refers to feeling nervous, anxious or on edge, worrying you cannot do anything right, worrying what others think of you, that something bad will happen, et cetera. This one was also based on a scoring system for that group of persons. Among these same persons we see that almost 90% also reported functional limitations. What are functional limitations? These refer to three domains. These would be difficulty performing daily activities at home, difficulty performing activities at work, or at school if that those were irrelevant, and negative impacts on social relationships with other peers. Out of young men and women 15 to 24 years almost 10% experience both symptoms of depression and anxiety, and talk to someone about their feelings and experiences.”
The survey also explored the sensitive issue of suicidal ideation. Nationwide, 1 percent of respondents reported experiencing suicidal thoughts, with women making up a larger share at 1.4 percent. While these numbers are small, experts warn that they point to deeper, underlying issues related to stigma, access to services, and awareness of available support.
Wendy Benavides, Statistician, SIB: “We also had some persons reporting on suicide thoughts and attempts that they went through. We see there the bar in yellow shows the suicide thoughts and that was in the last two weeks. We see that countrywide there was almost one percent of persons and women were more susceptible to these thoughts on suicide at 1.4% compared to men at 0.5%. The graph there, the bars there in red, red, brown, shows suicide attempts in the last 12 months. We saw the country, at the country level, we see young men and women at 4.1% having done a made a suicide attempt in the last 12 months. Again, the proportion of women was higher compared to men. As it pertains to these group of persons talking to someone about their difficulties, at the country level we see 53.2% had someone to talk to. More women were open to talking to someone about their issues compared to men.”
Officials and mental health advocates say the MICS7 findings underline the urgent need for strengthened psychosocial support systems, expanded outreach programs, and continued efforts to reduce stigma surrounding mental health. The data is expected to guide future interventions as Belize works toward improving the overall well-being of its young population.
English (US) ·