Association between Intimate Partner Violence, Knowledge and Use of Contraception in Africa: Comparative Analysis across Five African Regions

Authors

  • Rafeek A. Yusuf, MBBS, MPH, MS Department of Management, Policy, and Community Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA
  • Deepa Dongarwar, MS Center of Excellence in Health Equity, Training and Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
  • Zenab I. Yusuf, MBBS, MPH Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA; Houston VA Health Services Research and Development Service Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, Texas; and VA South Central Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Houston, Texas, USA
  • Hamisu M. Salihu, MD, PhD FCM-Adminstartion Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA; Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of South Florida, College of Public Health Tampa, Florida, USA; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Florida, College of Public Health Tampa, Florida, USA; and Center of Excellence in Health Equity, Training and Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21106/ijma.323

Keywords:

Violence , Women , Contraception; , Knowledge , Usage , Africa , Intimate partner violence, Demo graph ic and health surveys, Benin , Burundi , Egypt , Kenya , South Africa

Abstract

Background Or Objectives: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is common globally, and is associated with several adverse consequences. This study provides a comparative analysis of potential regional differences in the association between IPV and knowledge and use of contraceptives within Africa.

Methods: A multi-country cross-sectional study was conducted using data on women of reproductive age 15-49 years from the Demographic and Health Surveys covering five African regions. Exposure and outcome variables were IPV and reproductive literacy (comprising modern contraception knowledge and contraception usage) respectively. We used survey log-binomial regression models to generate prevalence ratios that estimated the association between IPV versus knowledge and usage of modern contraception.

Results: Overall IPV prevalence in Africa was 30.8% with notable regional differences. Demographic, socioeconomic, and reproductive history markers of IPV were more pronounced in younger women, rural residents, women of low socioeconomic status and those with copious knowledge but poor usage of modern contraception. The level of knowledge of contraception was 84% greater among African women who were victims of IPV compared to their counterparts who were not victims of IPV (p < 0.0001). IPV was not associated with actual usage of modern contraception (p = 0.21).

Conclusion And Global Health Implications: IPV against women in Africa may incentivize knowledge seeking of modern contraception as protective mechanisms. Regional variations notwithstanding, understanding the existing and new characteristics predictive of IPV may inform policy development, resource allocation and prevention of IPV globally.

 

Copyright © 2020 Yusuf et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0.

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Publication History

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1

Section

Original Article

License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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