Mapping strategies to empower women against intimate partner violence occurrences in Limpopo province, South Africa: scoping review.

Abstract

South African women remain vulnerable to gender-based violence, including femicide. If effective strategies are not initiated, the country will not achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5: target 5.2 of eliminating all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation. This scoping review aimed to map available articles about gender-based violence strategies in Limpopo from 2010 - 2022. The PICO approach was used to develop review questions, namely, what are the available intimate partner violence interventions in Limpopo province; and what is the perceived effectiveness of such interventions to prevent intimate partner violence occurrences? Fifteen articles published in accredited journals, identified using search terms such as “intimate partner or gender-based violence in Limpopo, South Africa" were reviewed from database such as google scholar, Medline, Mendeley and PubMed. Limpopo province is currently using legal and policy intervention strategies informed by the three gender based violence laws, aimed at strengthening efforts to end gender-based violence in South Africa namely: the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) and its Amendment Act , the Criminal and Related Matters and its Amendment Act, and the Domestic Violence and its Amendment Act. Despite the availability of these laws, about 13,799 sexual offences were reported to the South African Police Services in the first three months of 2022, of which 10,818 were cases of rape. More context-sensitive strategies are needed to empower women against intimate partner violence in Limpopo province.