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Sexual violence and self-reported sexually transmitted infections among women in sub-Saharan Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2022

Richard Gyan Aboagye Open the ORCID record for Richard Gyan Aboagye [Opens in a new window] ,
Abdul-Aziz Seidu Open the ORCID record for Abdul-Aziz Seidu [Opens in a new window] ,
Bright Opoku Ahinkorah ,
James Boadu Frimpong Open the ORCID record for James Boadu Frimpong [Opens in a new window]  and
Sanni Yaya Open the ORCID record for Sanni Yaya [Opens in a new window]
Richard Gyan Aboagye*
Affiliation:
Department of Family and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, PMB 31, Ghana
Abdul-Aziz Seidu
Affiliation:
Department of Estate Management, Takoradi Technical University, P.O.Box 256, Takoradi, Ghana abdul-aziz.seidu@stu.ucc.edu.gh Centre for Gender and Advocacy, Takoradi Technical University, P.O.Box 256, Takoradi, Ghana College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland QLD4811, Australia
Bright Opoku Ahinkorah
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney NSW2007, Australia brightahinkorah@gmail.com
James Boadu Frimpong
Affiliation:
Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana frimpongboadujames@gmail.com
Sanni Yaya
Affiliation:
School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa ONK1N6N5, Canada sanni.yaya@uOttawa.ca The George Institute for Global Health, Imperial College London, London W12OBZUK, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. Email: raboagye18@sph.uhas.edu.gh
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Abstract

Sexual violence has proven to be associated with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We examined the association between sexual violence and self-reported STIs (SR-STIs) among women in sexual unions in 15 sub-Saharan African countries. This was a cross-sectional study involving the analysis of data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 15 countries in SSA. A total sample of 65,392 women in sexual unions were included in the final analysis. A multilevel binary logistic regression analysis was carried out and the results were presented using adjusted odds ratios (aOR) at 95% Confidence Interval (CI). Women who experienced sexual violence in the last 12 months were more likely to self-report STIs compared to those who did not experience sexual violence [aOR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.59-1.94]. Compared to women in Angola, those who were in Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Liberia were more likely to self-report STIs while those in Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe were less likely to self-report STIs. The study has revealed variations in the country level regarding the prevalence of sexual violence and SR-STI in the last 12 months among women in sexual unions in the selected countries. This study has demostrated that sexual violence in the last 12 months is associated with SR-STIs among women in sexual unions. Moreover, factors that predict SR-STIs were observed in this study. Policymakers and agencies that matter could consider the factors identified in this study when designing policies or strengthening existing ones to tackle STIs among women in SSA. To accelerate the progress towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3, its imperative efforts and interventions must be intensified in SSA to reduce sexual violence which will go a long way to reduce SR-STIs among women.

Keywords

Sexual violencesexually transmitted infectionswomensub-Saharan AfricaDemographic and Health Survey
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , March 2023 , pp. 292 - 305
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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