43% of 2136 adolescents reported to have seriously injured themselves -- Tanzania Journal of Health Research Vol.15 No.1

This is our second consecutive post on the Tanzania Journal of Health Research. Today we are featuring vol.15 no.1, which was updated on Bioline at the end of March 2014.

This issue includes "Knowledge, attitude and practices on family planning services among adolescents in secondary schools in Hai District, northern Tanzania" by Dangat & Njau. This study examines attitudes, knowledge and practices of family planning services among adolescents in 10 secondary schools in the Hai district in northern Tanzania. The study was conducted between April and June 2011 through a cross-sectional survey administered to 316 randomly selected students, of which the median age was 17 years old. The results indicated that about 71% of survey respondents said that family planning services should not be used by adolescents, and less than 6% of survey respondents had received family planning services in their lifetime.

This issue also includes "Self-inflicted serious injuries among adolescents in Zambia" by Muula et al. This study aims to uncover some of the factors and and prevalence of self-inflicted injuries among students in Zambia. The study was conducted using data from the 2004 Zambia Global School-Based Health Survey to assess the prevalence within the last 12 months. Out of 2136 adolescents who did the survey, more than 43% were reported to have seriously injured themselves. Of these adolescents, almost 12% reported to have serious injured themselves on purpose. Emotions associated with a history of self-inflicted injury included sadness, suicidal behaviour, alcohol use and marijuana use.

For these articles and others from this issue, click here.