Abstract
BackgroundAs the global pandemic of corona virus (COVID-19) spreads across continents and communities, people are forced to respond with strict preventive measures such as staying at home and keeping social distance. In relation with these measures, particularly with the staying at home, increasing rates of domestic violence are beginning to surface. Hence, this study was aimed at determining the prevalence of intimate partner violence against reproductive age women in northern Ethiopia during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study design was employed. The data were collected during the period of April to May, 2020 using interviews and a self-administered standard questionnaire. The data were entered into the Epi-data manager version 4.2 and exported to SPSS 22 for analysis. The descriptive analysis such as frequency distribution, percentage, and measures of central tendency were used. This was followed by binary and multiple logistic regression analysis to infer the association between the outcome and independent variables.ResultsA total of 682 participants were included in the study. The prevalence of intimate partner violence against women was found to stood at 24.6% with psychological violence being the most prevalent (13.3%), followed by physical (8.3%) and sexual violence (5.3%). Women were more likely to suffer from violence if they were housewives (AOR, 95% CI (18.062 (10.088, 32.342))), age less than 30 (AOR, 95% CI (23.045 (5.627, 94.377))), women with arrange marriage (AOR, 95% CI (2.535 (1.572, 4.087))) and women with husband’s age being “between” 31–40 (AOR, CI 95% (2.212 (1.024, 4.777))).ConclusionsThis study showed the presence of a relatively high prevalence of intimate partner violence against women. Thus, public reporting of any cases or concerns of abuse is critical and vital to mitigate the problem.
Highlights
As the global pandemic of corona virus (COVID-19) spreads across continents and communities, people are forced to respond with strict preventive measures such as staying at home and keeping social distance
This study assessed the prevalence of intimate partner violence and contributing factors against reproductive age women in northern Ethiopia using a community-based cross-sectional study design
This study showed a relatively higher prevalence of violence against women
Summary
As the global pandemic of corona virus (COVID-19) spreads across continents and communities, people are forced to respond with strict preventive measures such as staying at home and keeping social distance. In relation with these measures, with the staying at home, increasing rates of domestic violence are beginning to surface. Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as women’s self-reported experience of all forms of violence [1,2,3]. An article published by WHO reported that 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced either physical or sexual violence by intimate partner or ex-partner in their lifetime. Current lockdown declaration in China, Spain, and Italy is increasing IPV
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