Substance use and substance use disorders in Africa: An epidemiological approach to the review of existing literature

Table 1 Epidemiology of substance use across the African continent

Region	Study type	Study group	Result	Ref.
Ghana	Population-based study	School-going adolescents	3.6% prevalence of substance use in the preceding 1 mo	[50]
Ghana	Cross-sectional study	894 high school students with a mean age of 17.4 yr	Lifetime alcohol use was 25.1%; with cigarette use and lifetime marijuana use being 7.5% and 2.6% respectively. Current alcohol use was 46.2%; current cigarette and marijuana use was 44.6%; and 58.3%, respectively	[51]
Ghana	Cross-sectional survey	227 street children and youths	Current prevalence of alcohol and marijuana use was 12% and 16.2%, respectively	[52]
Nigeria	Cross-sectional study Northwestern Nigeria	280 secondary school students	56% of them had a history of substance use (kolanut, cigarettes, and marijuana)	[53]
Nigeria	Cross-sectional study Southwestern Nigeria	249 secondary school students	Prevalence of alcohol and substance use was 21.7% and 26.3%, respectively, tramadol being the substance of choice	[54]
Nigeria	National drug survey	Population-based	Approximately 14.3 million people (accounting for 14.4% of the population aged between 15-64 yr) had a history of current and continuing substance drug use, with close to 3 million having at least a form of drug use disorder	[55]
Ethiopia	Demographic and health survey	Population-based	4% of youths and 6.3% of individuals in age groups of 25-29 yr smoked cigarettes, while 53% of men and 45% of women consumed alcohol	[59]
Ethiopia	Analysis of data extracted from the 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey	12688 male cohorts	62.5% (7931 males) had a current history of substance use (alcohol, Kath, or tobacco). Inhabitants of the Amhara, Tigray and Oromia regions had a current substance use prevalence of 18.5%, 14.2% and 12.8%, respectively	[60]
Ethiopia	Cross-sectional study Northeastern Ethiopia	730 university students in	Lifetime prevalence of alcohol consumption, Kath chewing, and cigarette smoking was 33.1%, 13% and 7.9%, respectively, and current prevalence was 27.9%, 10.4% and 6.4%	[61]
Ethiopia	Cross-sectional study	794 university students	73.7% had a history of substance use with the lifetime prevalence of illicit drugs being 23.3%	[63]
Egypt	Hospital-based study (single-center experience)	First episode drug-induced psychosis patients	Substance abuse rates are as high as 10%-20% the global average with cannabis and tramadol being the most abused substance	[65]
Tunisia	Cross-sectional study	298 persons with a history of drug use	Cannabis was the most widely consumed illicit drug, followed by benzodiazepines, buprenorphine, cocaine, and ecstasy	[68]
Tunisia	Mediterranean school survey project	Secondary school students	Tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis were the substances most frequently used	[66,67]
Tunisia	Epidemiologic/toxicological investigation Northern Tunisia	11170 suspected drug users	A preponderance of males (97.4%), with a median age of 29 ± 7.91 yr. 91.3 % were single	[69]
South Africa	School-based survey	Secondary school students	13% of the students (aged 19 yr and below) had an history of cannabis use, although current use was 9%. 12% had a current use of heroin, 11% used inhalants and 6% consumed mandrax	[73]
South Africa	National household survey	Population-based	Past 3 mo prevalence for cannabis among 15-19-years-old was 3%	[74]