Suicide in Cameroon increased rapidly in the 10 years from 2002 to 2012, although health officials faced challenges assembling official statistics because suicide is considered a

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

in most parts of Africa. Suicide trends in Cameroonian society can be measured as a developing world problem due to socio-cultural and family relationship mechanisms. Although no governmental data is available to the causes of suicide in Cameroon, depression has been a documented causes in regard to traditional African initiation rights and worries about contracting HIV/AIDS. Under Cameroonian Law, to die by suicide itself is not illegal, as is reporting on a suicide in the media, however publication of the suicide of a minor is an offence. Government treatment of physiological disorders relating to suicide severely lacks funding. According to the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

, there were only 2

psychiatric hospitals Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

and just 115 beds in such hospitals out of a population of 19.9 million. Cameroon does not have a mental health plan, nor does it have a policy as such. The Ministry of Health carried out a 9-year study in the

Guidiguis Guidiguis is a town and commune in Cameroon, Far-North Region, Mayo-Kani Division. See also *Communes of Cameroon The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. The arrondissements are organised by di ...

health district between 1999 and 2008, a rural province in the north of the country. The most frequently used suicide method in the region was the ingestion of toxic agricultural chemicals and the suicides main cause were mainly attributed to ongoing chronic illness (31.9%), with sexual and marital conflicts (25.5%),

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...

(14.9%), financial problems (8.5%) being the cause in other cases. The study concluded that suicide in rural

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

is not unusual and the capacity of mental health services in rural Cameroon is virtually non-existent.

References

Death in Cameroon {{Cameroon-stub