Prevalence of physical, sexual and emotional violence among married women in Pakistan: A detailed analysis from Pakistan demographic health survey 2017-18

Abstract

Background: Domestic violence is a significant public health concern all around the world. Globally around 10 out of 70 women faced domestic violence at least once in their life. However, there is a vast variation in the reported prevalence of domestic violence all around the world. Our study aims to explore the situation of domestic violence by using the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey (PDHS) dataset 2017-18.
 Methodology: Secondary data analysis was performed on 4085 married women of age 15-49 years by using a recently conducted PDHS data set to determine the prevalence, socio-demographic and economic factors that potentially increase the risk of different domestic violence types. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors associated with domestic violence.
 Results: In this study, the overall prevalence of domestic violence in Pakistan is 34.2%. However, the prevalence of sexual violence 4.79% (3.75-6.09), emotional violence 28.91% (26.76-31.17), and physical violence was 14.84% (13.22-16.63) respectively in Pakistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported the highest prevalence of sexual violence, 7.71%, followed by FATA 4.69%, Punjab 4.61%, Sindh 3.73%, and Balochistan 3.13%. Moreover, FATA has the highest prevalence of physical violence, 36.13%, followed by Balochistan, 33.5%, KPK, 22.5%, Punjab 13.28%, ICT 10.65%, and Sindh 7.68%. However, FATA also has the highest prevalence of emotional violence, 65.87%, followed by KPK 50.80%, Balochistan 48.37%, ICT 33.23%, Punjab 25.45%, and Sindh 15.1%.
 Conclusion: In our study, we found an association of low educational level of husband, poor wealth index, increase age of husband, and use of alcohol by the husband. Although policies are in place at the provincial level in Pakistan but there is no effective implementation of those policies at the provincial level. There is a need to study risk factors and societal perceptions regarding domestic violence across provinces to design and implement an effective intervention.