TY - JOUR

T1 - Current pesticide suicide surveillance methods used across the African continent

T2 - a scoping review protocol

AU - Brassell, Maxine

AU - Karunarathne, Ayanthi

AU - Utyasheva, Leah

AU - Eddleston, Michael

AU - Konradsen, Flemming

AU - Rother, Hanna-Andrea

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Introduction Every year, more than 800 000 people die from suicides of which an estimated 20% are from pesticide ingestion. Multiple studies have estimated that around 77%-80% of these pesticide suicides occur in low/middle-income countries. The full burden of pesticide suicides in African countries remains poorly documented, one reason being the lack of systematic data collection. It is essential to know the number of pesticide suicide cases to guide prevention of further cases occurring. This can be done by informing policy and legislation, and the implementation of targeted bans, as well as raising community awareness around the use of these pesticides, training of healthcare personnel, and influencing the type and level of clinical facility investments into this area of healthcare. The scoping review aims to investigate how pesticide suicide deaths in Africa are recorded by exploring the various surveillance systems in place, as well as highlighting key limitations and data collection barriers. Methods and analysis A scoping review will be carried out with the five-stage methodological frameworks set out by Arksey and O'Malley and the Joanna Briggs Institute. Studies in English that looked at pesticide suicide in African countries will be extracted and screened independently by two reviewers against the inclusion and exclusion criteria of this review. Studies' data will be extracted, and a descriptive synthesis developed of their main findings, as guided by the approach of Levac and colleagues. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval is not required for this review as no human participants will be involved. The study findings will be distributed in a peer-reviewed publication. Registration details This protocol has been submitted for publication to BMJ Open.

AB - Introduction Every year, more than 800 000 people die from suicides of which an estimated 20% are from pesticide ingestion. Multiple studies have estimated that around 77%-80% of these pesticide suicides occur in low/middle-income countries. The full burden of pesticide suicides in African countries remains poorly documented, one reason being the lack of systematic data collection. It is essential to know the number of pesticide suicide cases to guide prevention of further cases occurring. This can be done by informing policy and legislation, and the implementation of targeted bans, as well as raising community awareness around the use of these pesticides, training of healthcare personnel, and influencing the type and level of clinical facility investments into this area of healthcare. The scoping review aims to investigate how pesticide suicide deaths in Africa are recorded by exploring the various surveillance systems in place, as well as highlighting key limitations and data collection barriers. Methods and analysis A scoping review will be carried out with the five-stage methodological frameworks set out by Arksey and O'Malley and the Joanna Briggs Institute. Studies in English that looked at pesticide suicide in African countries will be extracted and screened independently by two reviewers against the inclusion and exclusion criteria of this review. Studies' data will be extracted, and a descriptive synthesis developed of their main findings, as guided by the approach of Levac and colleagues. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval is not required for this review as no human participants will be involved. The study findings will be distributed in a peer-reviewed publication. Registration details This protocol has been submitted for publication to BMJ Open.

KW - Protocols & guidelines

KW - Risk management

KW - MENTAL HEALTH

KW - Suicide & self-harm

KW - PUBLIC HEALTH

KW - HEALTH

KW - PREVENTION

U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055923

DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055923

M3 - Review

C2 - 35981770

VL - 12

JO - BMJ Open

JF - BMJ Open

SN - 2044-6055

IS - 8

M1 - 055923

ER -