Over Half of Senegalese Face Violence—And the Costs Are Deadly

What Senegal’s First Nationwide Survey Reveals About Mental Health, Harm, and Prevention

On a hot afternoon in Dakar, a community health worker knocks on doors—not to vaccinate or screen for malaria, but to ask harder questions. Has anyone here experienced violence? Have you felt so overwhelmed that life no longer feels worth living?

For years, these questions were rarely asked at scale in Senegal. Violence and suicide have existed largely in the shadows of public health planning, discussed in news headlines but seldom measured systematically. A new nationwide survey finally changes that—and what it shows is both sobering and actionable.

Published in PLOS Global Public Health in January 2026, this study is the first population-level assessment of violence exposure and suicide risk across Senegal. Its message is clear: violence is widespread, often normalized, and deeply intertwined with suicide risk—yet support systems remain dangerously underused.

The Problem We Thought We Understood—But Didn’t

Public health conversations often treat violence as a legal or moral issue, while suicide is framed as an individual mental health problem. This study challenges that separation.

Researchers surveyed 2,174 people across 361 households nationwide, covering children, adults, and older adults. What they found disrupts many assumptions:

• More than half of respondents (52.8%) had experienced at least one form of violence.
• Psychological and verbal violence were the most common—far exceeding sexual or physical violence.
• Violence was not episodic. Polyvictimization—experiencing multiple forms of violence—was the norm, not the exception.

In other words, violence in Senegal is not rare, extreme, or confined to “high-risk” groups. It is woven into everyday life.

What the Evidence Shows (Without the Jargon)

Violence Is Widespread—and Layered

The survey documented multiple forms of violence using WHO definitions:

• Psychological violence: 47%
• Verbal violence: 43%
• Physical violence: 33%
• Domestic violence: 15%
• Neglect: 9%
• Sexual violence: 3.8%

More than one-third of respondents experienced both psychological and physical violence, and some reported three or more overlapping forms.

Geography Matters—but Not How You’d Expect

Violence was reported in every region, but with clear spatial patterns:

• Dakar emerged as the main hotspot, particularly for psychological and physical violence.
• Sexual violence was more frequently reported in southern regions.
• Neglect clustered in central and northern areas.

This challenges the assumption that violence is primarily rural or conflict-driven. Urban density, economic stress, and social fragmentation appear to play major roles.

The Most Alarming Finding: Suicide Risk

Across the population:

• 8.4% of respondents showed some level of suicide risk
• 1.7% were classified as high risk

Women and adults aged 19–59 were most affected. But the most important signal was this:

Exposure to any form of violence significantly increased suicide risk.

People with a diagnosed mental or neurological disorder were nearly five times more likely to be at risk of suicide than others.

This reframes suicide prevention. It is not just about crisis lines or psychiatric care—it is about preventing violence upstream.

The Quiet Failure: Almost No One Seeks Help

Despite high exposure to violence:

• 94% did not seek psychological support
• 80% did not seek medical care
• Nearly 90% never contacted police

Women were even less likely than men to seek help.

This gap is not about awareness alone. It reflects stigma, fear, limited access, and systems that are not designed to respond safely or effectively. A prevention system that waits for people to ask for help will miss most of those at risk.

What This Means in Practice

For Ministries of Health

• Treat violence prevention as suicide prevention
• Integrate violence screening into primary care and community health outreach
• Develop a national mental health strategy grounded in prevention—not crisis response alone

For Local Health Departments & NGOs

• Train frontline workers to recognize psychological and verbal violence, not just physical harm
• Build confidential, community-based referral pathways
• Partner with women’s groups, youth leaders, and religious institutions to reduce stigma

For Donors & Policymakers

• Fund routine population-level surveillance of violence and mental health
• Support task-shifting approaches that expand access to psychosocial care
• Align programs with SDG 3.4 (mental health and suicide prevention)

Barriers We Can’t Ignore

• Cultural taboos around suicide and domestic violence
• Severe shortages of mental health professionals
• Limited trust in police and formal institutions
• Economic stressors and rapid urbanization

These constraints don’t make action impossible—but they demand solutions that are locally grounded and prevention-focused.

What’s Next—and What We Still Don’t Know

This study opens doors but also raises questions:

• How do early childhood exposure and neglect shape lifelong risk?
• Which community-based interventions reduce both violence and suicide risk?
• How can data collection continue without increasing harm or stigma?

Answering these questions will require sustained investment, not one-off surveys.

Conversation Starters

• How might your agency integrate violence screening into existing programs?
• What local barriers prevent people from seeking psychological support?
• Does this evidence challenge how you currently frame suicide prevention?

Violence in Senegal is not a fringe issue—it is a central public health challenge with deadly consequences. This study gives policymakers and practitioners something long missing: clear, national evidence that prevention must start earlier, broader, and closer to everyday life.

.If we act on it, the next knock on a household door might not just measure harm—but help prevent it.