Citation

Muluneh MD, Stulz V, Francis L, Agho K. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020; 17(3): ePub.

Affiliation

African Vision Research Institute (AVRI), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph17030903

PMID

32024080

Abstract

This study aimed to systematically review studies that examined the prevalence of gender based violence (GBV) that included intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-IPV among women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This evidence is an important aspect to work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) target of eliminating all forms of violence in SSA. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. Ovid Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane Central, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science were used to source articles with stringent eligibility criteria. Studies on GBV in SSA countries that were published in English from 2008 to 2019 were included. A random effect meta-analysis was used. Fifty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of IPV among women was 44%, the past year-pooled prevalence of IPV was 35.5% and non-IPV pooled prevalence was 14%. The highest prevalence rates of IPV that were reported included emotional (29.40%), physical (25.87%) and sexual (18.75%) violence. The sub-regional analysis found that women residing in Western (30%) and Eastern (25%) African regions experienced higher levels of emotional violence. Integrated mitigation measures to reduce GBV in SSA should focus mainly on IPV in order to achieve the SDG's that will lead to sustainable changes in women's health.

Language: en

Keywords

GBV; IPV; SSA; and meta-analysis; cross-sectional studies; emotional violence; non-IPV; physical violence; prevalence; sexual violence