Abstract:
BACKGROUND : Suicide is an important public health problem in the African continent whose
economic burden remains largely unknown. This study estimated the monetary value of human lives
lost due to suicide in the African continent in 2017. METHODS : The human capital approach was applied
to monetarily value the years of life lost due to premature mortality from suicide deaths (SD) among
54 African countries. A 3% discount rate was used to convert future losses into their present values.
The sensitivity of monetary value of human lives lost to changes in discount rate and average life
expectancy was tested. RESULTS : The 75,505 human lives lost from suicide had a grand total monetary
value of International Dollars (Int$) 6,989,963,325; and an average present value of Int$ 92,576 per SD.
About 31.1% of the total monetary value of SD was borne by high-income and upper-middle-income
countries (Group 1); 54.4% by lower-middle-income countries (Group 2); and 14.5% by low-income
countries (Group 3). The average monetary value per human life lost from SD was Int$ 234,244 for
Group 1, Int$ 109,545 for Group 2 and Int$ 32,223 for Group 3. CONCLUSIONS : Evidence shows that
suicide imposes a substantive economic burden on African economies. The evidence reinforces the
case for increased investments to ensure universal coverage of promotive, preventive, curative and
rehabilitative mental health services.
Description:
Supplementary material: Table S1: Distribution of suicide deaths by age group (2017), Table S2: Both sexes Life expectancy at birth (years)
in continental Africa, Table S3: Gross domestic product per capita and current health expenditure per capita in
purchasing power parity or international dollars (2019 Int$).