Abstract
ABSTRACTBackground: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women continues to be a public health burden globally.Objectives: To assess prevalence and factors associated with women’s experiences of past 12 months physical/sexual IPVMethods: A two-stage cluster-based national cross-sectional survey in which women were randomly selected for participation was conducted among 5295 women aged 15–49 years. IPV in the last 12 months was assessed using the WHO interviewer-administered questionnaire for measuring violence against women. Participants’ wife beating attitudes, partner controlling behaviours, household decision-making, STI history, HIV status and demographic characteristics were assessed. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to assess factors associated with IPV.Results: Of the 5292 women interviewed, mean age was 31.5 years and 84.7% were married. Over one-fifth of the women (20.2: 95%CI 19.1–21.3) were physically/sexually abused in the last 12 months. IPV was associated with gender inequitable norms and practices which include lacking household decision-making power (aOR 2.05, 1.71–2.47), experiencing low (aOR 2.05; 1.71–2.47) or high (aOR 4.5; 3.62–5.60) partner controlling behaviours (vs none) and endorsing low (aOR 1.29) or high (aOR 1.36) wife beating attitudes (vs none), having sexual self-efficacy (aOR 1.19; 1.10–1.41), experiencing emotional abuse (aOR 4.50; 3.62–5.60) and having a sexually transmitted infection (STI) (aOR 1.36, 1.04–1.77). IPV was also associated with women’s empowerment factors including possessing household assets (aOR 1.26, 1.03–1.54) and reporting current media usage (aOR 1.29; 1.04–1.61). Demographic factors associated with IPV were age and number of children.Conclusions: This study provides evidence that IPV is a significant public health and societal problem as one in five women were abused in the past year. Younger women, less empowered women, women in inequitable intimate relationships and women endorsing traditional gender norms were at increased risk of abuse. IPV prevention programmes must prioritise transforming traditional gender norms and women’s economic empowerment.
Highlights
Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women continues to be a public health burden globally
Mean age was 31.5 years (95%CI: 31.3–31.7), 70.2% completed at least secondary education (11 years of formal education), 84.7% were married and or lived with partners, and 94.7% had at least one child and their partners mean age was 37.9 years and most (78.2%) were educated to at least secondary level
We showed evidence that IPV is a considerable public health and societal problem with more than one in five of the participating women reporting physical and/sexual IPV experiences in the past year
Summary
Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women continues to be a public health burden globally. A number of studies have consistently recorded high rates of IPV perpetration or experiences in Zimbabwe over the last decade with almost one in two men (44%) reported perpetrating physical and or sexual IPV [1], nearly one in two reported experiencing violence (43%) [2] while more women (46%) reported IPV during pregnancy [1,2,3,4]. Such high rates require prevention interventions to address and monitor the problem which has been inadequately done over the last decade. Financial independence protects women from abuse but may pose a threat to women as it interferes with a man’s domination of a woman’s life
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