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Sylvia Charity Akotia

Professor of Psychology, University of Ghana
Charity S. Akotia is a professor in the Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon. Her specialty is social/community psychology and she teaches both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and Russian from the University of Ghana, a Master of Arts degree in community psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Canada, and a PhD from the University of Ghana.

Her main research interest is in suicidal behaviour in a cultural context and how to prevent suicide. She has collaborated with colleagues from Norway and Uganda to work in this area of psychology for several years. In recent times, she has also developed an interest in the multifaceted needs of the ageing and how they navigate on a daily basis to improve their lived experiences. She has also done some work on the psychology of eating behaviour. This area of research is new in Ghana and is a very interesting area where an attempt is made to understand how people eat and what eating means to them. Prof. Akotia also researches personhood in an African context. This project is funded by the Mellon Foundation and focuses on understanding how people conceptualise personhood and the factors that determine personhood.

She is a member of the Ghana Psychology Association (GPA) and has been licensed by the Ghana Psychology Council. Internationally, she is a member of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and the Critical Suicidology Group. She is the current national representative of the IASP and a co-chair of the Council of National Representatives of the IASP.

Research area(s) (including ongoing research).

Suicide and suicide prevention
Gender and gender role attitudes
Ageing, care and spirituality
Psychology of eating behaviour
Personhood in an African context

Economy

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Russian stocks edged higher on Saturday, driven by strength in the oil, gas, and power sectors. The MOEX Russia Index closed up 0.26%, signaling cautious optimism among investors despite mixed performance across key...

Malaysia’s Q1 GDP Grows 4.4%, U.S. Exports Surge Amid Tariff Concerns

Malaysias economy expanded by 4.4% year-on-year in Q1 2025, according to official advance estimates released Friday. While slower than the 5% growth recorded in Q4 2024, the economy remained resilient amid global...

Wall Street Ends Mixed as Apple, Eli Lilly Rise Amid Trade and Rate Concerns

Wall Street closed mixed on Thursday as investor sentiment improved slightly amid progress in U.S.-Japan trade talks, though caution prevailed ahead of the Good Friday holiday. The SP 500 inched up 0.13% to 5,282.70, while...

Japan’s Inflation Rises as U.S. Tariff Risks Weigh on BOJ Policy

Japans core inflation rose in March, driven by persistent food cost increases, complicating the Bank of Japans (BOJ) path toward further rate hikes amid growing concerns over U.S. trade tariffs. The core consumer price...

Gold Pulls Back from Record Highs After Fed's Hawkish Signals and Profit-Taking

Gold prices dipped on Thursday in Asian trading after briefly hitting another record high, as investors took profits and digested hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Spot gold fell 0.7% to...

Politics

Harvard Slams Trump Administration Over "Intrusive" Demands Amid Funding Freeze

Harvard University has criticized the Trump administration for intensifying what it calls astonishingly intrusive demands, even after revelations that a government letter detailing those demands was sent without proper...

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Dan Caldwell, a senior advisor to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, broke his silence after being escorted out of the Pentagon this week over an alleged leak. Alongside officials Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll,...

JD Vance Meets Vatican Officials Amid Tensions Over Trump Policies

U.S. Vice President JD Vance met with top Vatican officials on Saturday in a rare high-level encounter as tensions simmer between the Catholic Church and the Trump administration over immigration and social policy. Vance,...

Supreme Court Halts Trump-Era Deportations of Venezuelan Detainees Amid Legal Battle

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Iran-U.S. Nuclear Talks Resume in Rome Amid Rising Tensions

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Science

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AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi Gets US Approval for Bladder Cancer Treatment

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FDA Vaccine Chief Peter Marks Resigns Amid Controversy Over Transparency

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Technology

Apple iPhone Sales Drop 9% in China as Xiaomi Surges 40%

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Nvidia Faces $5.5B Hit as U.S. Restricts H20 AI Chip Exports to China

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TSMC Q1 Profit Surges 60% on Booming AI Chip Demand

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Tencent, Douyin Launch Domestic Sales Initiatives Amid U.S.-China Trade Tensions

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