Abstract
Background: Sexual assault is about the most dehumanizing form of gender based violence against women worldwide. Nigeria and many other countries in Africa do not have National data on women sexual assault. This survey is aimed at generating data on sexual assault against women in Osun state, Nigeria.
 Objective: To determine the patterns of sexual assault against women in Urban and Rural areas of Osun State in South western Nigeria.
 Methodology: A cross section survey using interviewer administered questionnaire was carried out among selected 1,200 women aged 15 years and above in urban and rural areas, between August and December 2014. The questionnaire was patterned after WHO Multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence data instrument. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.0.
 Results: Mean age of the respondents was 23.75 ±(13.22) years in rural area, in the urban area it was 27.69 ±(10.23) years. 46 % and 54 % were married in urban and rural areas respectively. The prevalence of completed rape was 10.0 % in urban and 9.2 % in rural, while that of attempted rape was 31.4 % and 20.0 % in the urban and rural area respectively. Women in the rural areas experienced repeat sexual assault and suffered non-genital injuries more the in urban area. Having partner and living in urban area were associated with female sexual assault.
 Conclusions: Sexual assault against women constitutes public health issue in Osun state with rural women incurring greater negative health consequences. Primary prevention strategies should focus at young men and women in both rural and urban areas of the state.
 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.18(3) 2019 p.628-635
Highlights
All over the world gender based sexual assault against women is a recognized problem with negative consequences on the health of women
In southern part of Nigeria the legal code that provided for sexual offence is under Section 357 of the Criminal Code which states that: “Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or by means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or in the case of a married woman, by personating her husband is guilty of an offence which is called rape.” 7
In Figure i: Repeated sexual assaults prevalence in urban and rural areas of the state were shown in figure 1
Summary
All over the world gender based sexual assault against women is a recognized problem with negative consequences on the health of women.. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife. Rural and urban prevalence of sexual assault against women in an African population. There is a need to bridge this gap This survey was aimed at generating regional data as well as a follow up to a report of audit of cases of rape treated at general hospital in Osogbo Osun State over a seven years period (2004 to 2010). Few studies have reported on urban and rural patterns of female sexual assault especially in Nigeria. A total of 768 and 504 questionnaires were administered in urban and rural areas respectively, giving a total of 1,272 questionnaires administered in the state Data Instrument: The questionnaire was patterned after WHO Multi-country data instrument, while we adopted Centre for disease control CDC classification of rape and sexual assault (2014)[19] with modification It has both open and closed ended sections.
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