SA has world’s worst partner abuse statistics
ABUSE at the hands of one’s partner is rife across the world, and sees its highest levels in South Africa – yet healthcare providers are not trained to deal with it, and a veil of taboo is drawn over it.
Now the World Psychiatric Association has created the first comprehensive curriculum that can be used by any institute globally to try to combat this problem known as Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).
In South Africa, shocking stats – provided by various agencies including tertiary institutions – reveal the extent of the problem:
● Half of all women who are killed in South Africa are killed by their intimate partners – and this rate of femicide (8.8100 000) is the highest in the world;
● Over 50% of women report experiencing intimate partner violence – and this often includes during pregnancy;
● 20% of women surveyed in antenatal clinics in Soweto reported sexual violence by an intimate partner, while 68% reported psychological abuse;
● More than a third of girls report having undergone some form of sexual violence, while 45% of children had witnessed their mother being beaten.
The curriculum includes a clinical handbook by the World Health Organisation, links to research findings, video learning vignettes, competency assessment frameworks, slides.
Simone Honikman, director of the Perinatal Mental Health Project (PMHP) in Cape Town, has hailed the new opensource curriculum, saying it will be very useful in South Africa.
“I think this is an excellent resource for capacity building that may be easily adapted for our local setting. Over the years of working with health and social development workers of all types, we have been struck by the need for improved access to accessible, competencybased training on addressing intimate partner violence and sexual violence.”
She said that in the maternity setting, they had heard from “highly experienced case studies and midwives who have been working for decades” that they have never asked about violence in the lives of their patients.
“They simply don’t know how to ask and are too scared to ask. This multifacetted, yet simple curriculum is a wonderful offering to meet this need for staff and their vulnerable clients,” said Honikman.
According to Allison Groves, a researcher who has published her findings in the Maternal and Child Health Journal, IPV has “significant negative health and social consequences for South African women, including injury, poor mental health, sexually transmitted infections, substance use and death”.