Intimate partner violence, antenatal visits and women empowerment among currently married women in Malawi

Abstract

Malawi has one of the highest prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Africa. However, the consequences of IPV are less known in Malawi. This study investigates the relationship between IPV and antenatal visits among currently married women of reproductive age in Malawi. The study used data of 3389 currently married women extracted from the 2015-16 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey. Chi-square tests and logistic regression modeling were utilized to study the relationship between IPV, antenatal visits and women empowerment after controlling for selected background characteristics. The results indicated that 51.2% of the study population had four or more antenatal visits. Furthermore, 18.2%, 22.9% and 26.7% of the women reported sexual, physical and emotional violence perpetrated by their partners. At bivariate level, there was significant relation between Antenatal visits and sexual and emotional violence and most background variables. Multivariate analysis revealed significant association between antenatal visits and sexual and emotional violence, region and work status. Married women who had not experienced sexual violence were 1.253 times more likely to have four ANC visits than married women who had experienced sexual violence (p<0.05). Married women who had not experienced emotional violence were 1.076 times less likely to have four ANC visits than married women who had experienced emotional violence (p<0.001). In Malawi, IPV is associated with reduced antenatal visits. As such to ensure efficient intervention of the health sector towards victims of domestic violence, the study recommends that screening for IPV during antenatal visits.