The Economic Burden of Violence against Children in South Africa.

Xiangming Fang,Catherine Ward,Gary Ganz,Deborah Fry,Tabitha Casey,Xiaodong Zheng,Celia Hsiao

doi:10.3390/ijerph14111431

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to estimate the economic burden of violence against children in South Africa. We assembled summative estimates of lifetime prevalence, calculated the magnitude of associations with negative outcomes, and thereby estimated the economic burden of violence against children. According to our calculations, 2.3 million and 84,287 disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost in South Africa in 2015 were attributable to nonfatal and fatal violence against children, respectively. The estimated economic value of DALYs lost to violence against children (including both fatal and nonfatal) in South Africa in 2015 totalled ZAR173 billion (US $13.5 billion)—or 4.3% of South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015. In addition, the reduced earnings attributable to childhood physical violence and emotional violence in South Africa in 2015 were ZAR25.2 billion (US $2.0 billion) and ZAR9.6 billion (US $750 million), respectively. In addition, South Africa spent ZAR1.6 billion (US $124 million) on child care and protection in fiscal year 2015/2016, many of which costs are directly related to violence against children. This study confirms the importance of prioritising violence against children as a key social and economic concern for South Africa’s future.

Highlights

Violence against children exists in every country in the world, cutting across culture, class, education, income and ethnic origin
Prevalence of each type of nonfatal violence against children, and the relative risks and population-attributable fractions (Table 3), were used together to calculate the disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost to each type of violence, and the economic cost associated with the DALYs (Table 4)
Data from previous studies, and in particular the Optimus Study South Africa [7], shows that violence is a common experience for South African children; our work shows that this violence is a human rights issue, but an economic one: violence against children costs South African society in terms of both

Summary

Introduction

Violence against children exists in every country in the world, cutting across culture, class, education, income and ethnic origin. Given the high prevalence of violence against children and the many negative short- and long-term consequences, the economic costs of violence against children may be substantial. Given such costs, violence against children is a human rights and moral issue, and an economic one. Previous burden of violence against children studies have found significant impacts on children’s and adults’ mental and physical health, employment and education, as well as increasing risk factors for experiencing other forms of violence [1]. A burden study in the East Asia and Pacific region found that violence against children costs the region 2% of their GDP [2]. Estimates of the economic burden have been published for a few countries individually such as the United States [3], Australia [4], and China [5], but are lacking in most countries and regions of the world, including

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion