Assessment of Sexual Assault Among Women in Assendabo Town, Oromiya Region, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Violence against women is increasingly being recognized as important human rights, development and health issue however it is difficult to know its magnitude in Ethiopia. The objective of this study is therefore to assess the magnitude of sexual assault among women in Assendabo town. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 323 women 10 years and above. Data was collected by trained female interviewers using structured questionnaire and entered into computer, tabulation and summarization was done using SPSS. RESULTS: Twenty-six (8.0%) of the respondents were lifetime sexual assault victims and 5 (1.5%) of the respondents were victims of sexual assault in the last one-year prior to data collection. Of lifetime sexual assault victims, majority 19 (73.1%) were victims of rape and five (19.2%) of the victims had encountered sexual assault more than once with mean age at first sexual assault was 15 year. Unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion and STD were the major problems reported as consequences of the assault. Thirty-three (10.2%) of the respondents and 21 (80.8%) of the victims prefer to keep quite about the event due to fear of associated social stigma. Most of the respondents, 282 (87.3%), knew the act of rape is punishable by law and 146 (45.2%) respondents believed that penal code of Ethiopia on rape that states maximum of 10 years imprisonment for the act of rape is inadequate. CONCLUSION: sexual assault is an important health and social problem-affecting women. Hence there is a need for more concerted efforts to be made in creating awareness among women to prevent the crime and encourage reporting among victims. Moreover medical care and psychological support should be strengthened to treat consequences of sexual assault.

Ethiop J Health Sci. Vol. 14, No. 1 January 2004