Habte Belete-Gobie
All Authors:H. Belete1,2, T. Mekonen1,2, D. C. Espinosa2, F. Ambaw3, J. Connor4,5, G. Chan2, L.Hides2,4, W. Hall4, J. Leung2,4,6. 1Department of Psychiatry, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia; 2School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Australia; 3School of Public Health, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia; 4National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, The University of Queensland, Australia; 5School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia; 6National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia
Background
The most available data on the prevalence of cannabis use come from population surveys conducted in high-income countries in North America, Oceania, and Europe. Less is known about the prevalence of cannabis use in Africa. This review aimed to summarize general population-level cannabis use in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2010.
Methods
A comprehensive search was done in PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and AJOL databases in addition to Global Health Data Exchange and grey literature without language restriction. Search terms related to “substance”, “Substance-Related Disorders” and “Prevalence” and “Africa South of the Sahara” were used. Studies that reported cannabis use in the general population were selected while studies from clinical populations and high-risk groups were excluded. Prevalence data on cannabis use in the general population of adolescents (10-17 years) and adults (?18 years) in Sub-Saharan Africa were extracted.
Results
We included 53 studies for the meta-analysis and included 13,239 participants. Among adolescents, the lifetime, 12 months, and 6 months prevalence of cannabis use were 7.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] CI 5.4-10.9%), 5.2% (95% CI 1.7 - 10.3%), and 4.5% (95% CI 3.3-5.8%), respectively. The lifetime, 12 months, and 6 months prevalence of cannabis use among adults were 12.6% (95% CI 6.1-21.2%), 2.2% (95% CI 1.7-2.7%), and 4.7% (95% CI 3.3-6.4%), respectively. The male-to-female lifetime cannabis use relative risk was 1.90 (95% CI 1.25-2.98) among adolescents and 1.67 (0.63-4.39) among adults.
Conclusions
Lifetime cannabis use prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa appears to be about 12% for adults and just under 8% for adolescents.