MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH IN AFRICA
ICAMMHA (International Conference on Maternal Mental Health in Africa) 2025 at HARARE_ZIMBABWE on 4-5th December 2025
Ongoing...
Participation of UniPsy
Presentation : Maternal mortality due to suicidal risk among adolescent mothers in Cameroon
The maternal mortality rate in Cameroon is 467 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the 2018 EDSC-V. The main causes are haemorrhage (56.4%), infections (17.9%), complications of hypertensive pathologies in pregnancy (15.4%), neuromalaria (5.1%) and HIV/AIDS infection (5.1%). What about maternal suicide, specifically for teenage mothers and their characteristics? The lack of data in this area is glaring. The 2 studies found in the Cameroon literature show prevalences of suicidal risk of 17% in adult mothers (Djatche et al, 2023). 27.4% slight risk, 2.7% medium risk and 7.3% high risk among teenage mothers (Djatche et al, 2024). However, the socio-demographic and clinical profile of adolescent mothers is not specified. The aim of our research is to shed light on the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of teenage mothers at risk of suicide in Cameroon.
Methods:
Our study is cross-sectional. The site is the city of Yaoundé and its surroundings. The study population is adolescent mothers in the perinatal period. Sampling is non-probabilistic and more precisely typical. Data were collected by a questionnaire on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview on suicide risk. Data analysis was performed using Epidata 3.1 and SPSS 25. This involved descriptive statistics aimed at highlighting frequencies.
Results: 1633 teenage mothers were evaluated. The average age was 17.91 years old. 612 were at risk of suicide, representing a prevalence of 37.4%. The 18+ age group were the most affected, with an average and high suicide risk level of 17.9%. Pregnant teenage mothers are more at risk of suicide, i.e., 19.6%, especially during the second trimester of pregnancy, with a suicide risk of 9.9%. And then 17.7% of teenage mothers at risk of suicide are financially precarious, and 15.8% have educational needs. Among these 612 adolescent mothers, 10.8% at risk of suicide came from a family with dysfunctional symptoms. And also 25.8% (out of 37.4%) at medium and high risk of suicide suffered from at least one mental disorder. Furthermore, 25.8% of teenage mothers affected by suicidal risk had more than 2 risk factors for mental disorders.
Conclusion: Suicidal behaviour is a reality among teenage mothers in Cameroon. It is known that a slight risk can evolve into a medium or high risk, or into suicide. An adolescent or young person at high risk has a relative or recidivism risk 20 times higher (Perisse and Cohen, 2010). This level of risk of maternal death is a wake-up call for the management of teenage mothers.
Key words: Maternal Mortality, Maternal Suicide, Suicidal Risk, Adolescent Mothers, Cameroon.
