Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T14:14:13.369Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Perspectives on suicide in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

N. K. Ndosi
N. K. Ndosi*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, MUCHS PO Box 65051, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, email nkndosi@hotmail.com
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Suicide is a serious worldwide health problem, particularly among youths. It is defined as the intentional act of killing oneself. Analytically, the suicidal act entails: the wish to kill, the wish to be killed and the wish to die. People who die by suicide know what they are doing and are aware of the consequences of their actions. A completed suicidal act is a complex phenomenon associated with psychological, biological and social factors. It follows severe exhaustion under a continuing assault of stressors when the suicidal individual is no longer able to cope with and to restore homeostasis. In order to categorise a case as a suicide, legal authorities demand unequivocal evidence of intent.

Type
Thematic papers - Suicide
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 7 - 8
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2006

References

Buve, A., Lagarde, E., Carael, M., et al (2001) Study Group on Heterogeneity of HIV Epidemics in African Cities. Interpreting sexual behaviour data: validity issues in the multicentre study on factors determining the differential spread of HIV in four African cities. AIDS, 15 (suppl. 4), 117–126.Google Scholar
Elliott, M. (2001) Gender differences in causes of depression. Women's Health, 33, 163–177.Google Scholar
Heggenhougen, K. H. & Lugalla, J. P. (eds) (2005) Social Change and Health in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press.Google Scholar
Kabeer, N. (1993) Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Lister, D. & Wilson, C. (1990) Teenage suicide in Zimbabwe. Adolescence, 25, 807–809.Google Scholar
Mbatiya, Z. A. (1997) The Availability and Use of Anti-malarial Drugs in Households in Kibaha District, Tanzania, 1996. Dissertation in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Tropical Diseases Control at the University of Dar es Salaam.Google Scholar
Morgan, H. G. (1979) Death Wishes? The Understanding and Management of Deliberate Self-harm. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Ndosi, N. K. (2005) The challenges of psychiatry amidst economic deprivations and social change in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania. In Social Change and Health in Tanzania (eds Heggenhougen, K. H. & Lugalla, J. P.), pp. 196–208. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press.Google Scholar
Ndosi, N. K. & Waziri, M. C. (1997) The nature of attempted suicide in Dar es Salaam. Social Science and Medicine, 44, 55–61.Google Scholar
Ndosi, N. K., Mbonde, M. P. & Lyamuya, E. L. (2004) Profile of suicide in Dar es Salaam. East African Medical Journal, 81, 207–211.Google Scholar
Nwosu, S. O. & Odesamni, W. O. (2001) Patterns of suicides in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. West African Journal of Medicine, 20, 259–262.Google Scholar
Rajs, J. & Fugelstad, A. (1992) Suicide related to human immunodeficiency virus infection in Stockholm. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 85, 234–237.Google Scholar
Swift, C. R. (1977) Mental Health (Rural Health Series 6). Nairobi: African Medical and Research Foundation.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.