Incidence of Suicide Surpasses Number Car Crash Deaths Among Middle School Students in US

A federal report issued on Thursday said that the suicide rate among US middle school students doubled from 2007 to 2014. It is the first time the tally surpassed the incidence of youngsters aged 10 to 14 who died in car accidents.

The consistent seven-year increase in suicide among middle school students, from an annual rate of middle school suicides is 0.9 to 2.1 per 100,000, came as traffic casualties among the same age group decreased to 1.9 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

The motor vehicle mortality rate reported for 2014 indicated a 60 percent drop from 1999. 2014 was the latest year for which such data was available, while 1999 was when the government started monitoring such figures.

In cumulative numbers, 425 young individuals 10 to 14 years of age took their own lives in 2014. On the other hand, 384 individuals from the same age group died in car accidents that same year, according to the CDC.

Those figures contrasted sharply with numbers from 1999. The rate of middle school students killed in car crashes that year was four times higher than the rate among those who died from suicide.

Commenting on the findings, Mark Kaplan, a professor of social welfare at the University of California reiterated that any increase in youth suicides should be of concern.

“In time we might uncover some reasons, but a cautionary note is not to rush to any conclusions from this,” Kaplan said.

The primary causes of suicide are highly complex. This makes it tough to explain the trends documented by the CDC, he added.

Accidents in General on the Rise

According to the CDC, the leading general cause of death for Americans aged 10 to 14 remains accidents of all kinds, including car crashes. This accounted for 750 fatalities in that age group in 2014,.

Mortality rates from traffic collisions among all age groups have declined over several decades in the United States. Observers attribute this, in part, to improved safety features in cars, such as airbags.

The post Incidence of Suicide Surpasses Number Car Crash Deaths Among Middle School Students in US appeared first on Newsline.

Hurricane Matthew – 400 confirmed dead and body count still rising

The death toll in Haiti caused by Hurricane Matthew – the most devastating hurricane in a decade – has reached 400 and is expected to climb even higher.

It has left a trail of death and destruction in its path with hundreds of thousands of the people on the island left homeless.

Senator Herve Fourcand from southern Haiti says “at least” 400 people are dead with unconfirmed reports putting the death toll at 478.

It has been estimated by aid organisations that at least 350,000 people are urgently in need of assistance throughout Haiti.

Killed

A top priority is to get phone networks back up and running and aid workers are very concerned about a surge in cholera cases, with the sanitation system in Haiti already overwhelmed.

In Sud province 30,000 homes were flattened, the city of Jeremie suffered the destruction of 80% of its buildings and 50 people were reported killed in the town of Roche-a-Bateau alone.

The nearby city of Jeremie saw 80% of its buildings levelled. In Sud province 30,000 homes were destroyed.

Most of those killed lived in fishing villages and small towns around the southern coast where falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers all added to the death toll.

Collapse

Phone coverage and electricity is down in large parts of Haiti, people are running out of food and water  and the collapse of a vital bridge combined with torrential flooding is hampering rescue operations.

The Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal for $6.9m to provide medical, shelter, water and sanitation assistance to 50,000 people while the US is sending nine military helicopters to help deliver food and water to the hardest-hit areas.

Meanwhile Matthew is currently battering the coastline of Florida with sustained winds of 120mph and this morning it was hugging the Florida coast, about 35 miles east of Daytona Beach.

Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have all declared states of emergencies and at least three million inhabitants have been ordered to evacuate their homes.

More than half a million homes have lost power in Florida and the biggest fear now is the possibility of storm surges of 9ft or more.

Exactly what Hurricane Matthew will do next remains uncertain but the latest predictions suggest that it will hug the coast of Georgia and South Carolina over the weekend before heading out to sea.

The post Hurricane Matthew – 400 confirmed dead and body count still rising appeared first on Newsline.