Suicide literacy in The Gambia

BACKGROUND: Although suicide literacy affects help-seeking for suicidal behavior, little is known about its status in The Gambia. We aimed to synthesise the existing evidence on suicide literacy in the country. METHODS: We adopted a narrative review approach and made a comprehensive search with various search to identify relevant articles on suicide and suicide literacy in The Gambia. We included all the available article till the search date and synthesized to identify recurring themes, trends, and knowledge gaps. RESULTS: Despite the thorough search, literature specifically focused on suicide literacy in The Gambia was found to be scarce. There were no published surveys of suicide-specific knowledge and attitudes towards suicide in the country. Accessing help for suicidal behavior has been severely hindered by the limited services, cost, and access to treatments, cultural expectations, stigma, and legal factors. CONCLUSION: Suicide literacy in The Gambia is under-researched. There is a pressing need for research to understand the burden of suicide its risk factors and its association with suicide literacy to formulate suicide prevention strategies in the country.