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Suicidal behaviour across the African continent: A review of the literature

Mars, B; Burrows, SM; Hjelmeland, Heidi Marie; Gunnell, David
Journal article, Peer reviewed
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1471-2458-14-606.pdf (947.1Kb)
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http://hdl.handle.net/11250/1107807
Utgivelsesdato
2014
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Originalversjon
BMC Public Health 2014, 14(1)   10.1186/1471-2458-14-606
Sammendrag
Background: Suicide is a major cause of premature mortality worldwide, but data on its epidemiology in Africa,

the world’s second most populous continent, are limited.

Methods: We systematically reviewed published literature on suicidal behaviour in African countries. We searched

PubMed, Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, African Index Medicus, Eastern Mediterranean Index Medicus and African

Journals OnLine and carried out citation searches of key articles. We crudely estimated the incidence of suicide and

suicide attempts in Africa based on country-specific data and compared these with published estimates. We also

describe common features of suicide and suicide attempts across the studies, including information related to age,

sex, methods used and risk factors.

Results: Regional or national suicide incidence data were available for less than one third (16/53) of African

countries containing approximately 60% of Africa’s population; suicide attempt data were available for <20% of

countries (7/53). Crude estimates suggest there are over 34,000 (inter-quartile range 13,141 to 63,757) suicides per

year in Africa, with an overall incidence rate of 3.2 per 100,000 population. The recent Global Burden of Disease

(GBD) estimate of 49,558 deaths is somewhat higher, but falls within the inter-quartile range of our estimate. Suicide

rates in men are typically at least three times higher than in women. The most frequently used methods of suicide

are hanging and pesticide poisoning. Reported risk factors are similar for suicide and suicide attempts and include

interpersonal difficulties, mental and physical health problems, socioeconomic problems and drug and alcohol use/

abuse. Qualitative studies are needed to identify additional culturally relevant risk factors and to understand how risk

factors may be connected to suicidal behaviour in different socio-cultural contexts.

Conclusions: Our estimate is somewhat lower than GBD, but still clearly indicates suicidal behaviour is an

important public health problem in Africa. More regional studies, in both urban and rural areas, are needed to more

accurately estimate the burden of suicidal behaviour across the continent. Qualitative studies are required in

addition to quantitative studies.
Utgiver
BioMed Central
Tidsskrift
BMC Public Health

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