Pacific

Calls in American Samoa for suicide counselling to be provided

11:51 am on 10 November 2003

A charity organisation seeking to provide suicide prevention counselling in American Samoa, says the recent spate of deaths shows the service is needed.

Six young people have killed themselves in just over a month prompting the governor to call a special meeting of government, church and community groups.

The meeting agreed that the first move would be to ask God for guidance.

But the Director of Catholic Social Services, Bud Ozar says a specialised service is very much needed:

"For several years I've been asking government for money to provide a suicide prevention programme across the island because this is not somethng new ..I've been here for two years and its been going on since I came here."