Reporting child victims of abuse in the city of Yaoundé

Abstract

Introduction: The need to report any suspicion of child abuse is imperative for the medical practitioner. The general objective of our study is to describe the types of reporting of child victims of abuse suffered by children in some referral hospitals in Yaoundé. Method: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019, i.e., 5 years, in 4 referral hospitals in Yaoundé. All records of victims of abuse under 18 years of age were included. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using Epi-info TM version 7.2 software. Ethical clearance was obtained to conduct our study. Results: Of the 132 victims in our study, the alleged perpetrator was known in 53.0% of cases (70/132). Reporting was done in 48.5% (64/132) of cases and was more frequent if the alleged perpetrator was known (40/70; 57.1%). The administrative reporting procedure predominated over the judicial one, 57.8% (37/64) and 42.2% (27/64) respectively. The arrest of the presumed perpetrator was done only in 23.4% (15/64) of cases, followed by a conviction in 46.7% of cases, i.e. a conviction rate of 5.3% (7/132). The return to the victim's family occurred nearly 8 times/10 (105/132; 79.5%). Conclusion: Reporting was done in less than half of the cases of child maltreatment resulting in a conviction in about 5 cases out of 100. Training and awareness of the practitioner remains a cornerstone in the fight against this scourge