Intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women: Any end in sight?

Abstract

Background: Intimate partner and sexual violence are major public health and human right concerns affecting women and girls all round the world. These problems have been part of the fabric of many societies and cultures worldwide, and have thus gone unnoticed despite the devastating physical, psychological, socio-economic and reproductive health effects they have on women, children, families and societies at large.

Aim: This was to identify the extent of these problems and their devastating health effects on the childbearing women and children which would lead to enhancing the awareness.

Methods: Literatures related to the topic were reviewed from different completed research works and published articles retrieved from searches of computerized databases and their findings were discussed.

Findings: It was found that intimate partner and sexual violence are major problems in Nigeria because of the deadly culture of silence that the battered women have adopted over many generations, mainly because there is no safe haven for them in the country. However, on the 25th of May 2015, the Violence Against Women (Prohibition) Bill which languished for over a decade in our male-dominated Houses of National Assembly was eventually signed into law, although its title was changed to Violence Against Person (Prohibition) Act.

Conclusion: This Act would bring an end to the problems if adequate awareness, monitoring and follow-up measures are created by the government and NGOs to ensure its implementation. Otherwise, it would be nothing but a merely written document as have been many acts written in the Nigerian law.

Keywords: Violence, sex, consequences, reproductive health, women, intimate partner