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Violence disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries. Deeper understanding is needed in areas where little research has occurred. The objectives of the study were to: (a) ascertain rate of homicide death; (b) describe the victims and circumstances surrounding their deaths in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 2005. This study was developed by adapting the WHO/CDC Injury Surveillance Guidelines (Holder et al., 2001). Data on 12 variables were collected on all homicide deaths. Descriptive statistics and hypothesis tests were done when appropriate. Age standardised, age-specific and cause-specific mortality rates are presented. The overall homicide rate was 12.57 (males and females respectively: 22.26 and 2.64). Homicide deaths were 93.4% male, mostly unemployed, with a mean age of 28.2 years. Most deaths occurred in urban areas. Mob violence was the cause of 57% of deaths. The risk of homicide death for males was greater than the world average, but for females it was less. Most homicides were committed by community members policing against thieves.

Suicide surveillance was launched at the Muhimbili National Hospital mortuary in Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania from 1st January to 31st December, 2005 to determine its magnitude and characteristics. Following the WHO guidelines with minor modifications, information on sex, dates of birth and death, places of residence and death, occupation, reasons and means of suicide were collected. There were 65 (2.3 per 100,000 population) suicides recorded in 2005. The suicide rate for males was 3.4/100,000 and for females was 1.2/100,000 which maybe some of the lowest rates ever reported in the world. The mean age at suicide was 32.9 (SD=13.1) years. Males were about three times more likely to commit suicide as females. The main motive behind suicide was recorded for 26 (40%) victims as family-related and for 11 (17%) as health related. Although there was a wide range of ages at which people committed suicide, the average age seems to be very low. Since reasons for suicide are coated with family problems, strategies to improve awareness of psychological and mental health services and to provide alternative economic and social support networks are advocated.