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SWAZILAND - NATIONAL SURVEY - ABUSED WOMEN & GIRLS
MORE LIKELY TO GET HIV

 

27 January, 2010

By James Hall

 

The first national survey to chart the scope of sexual and other types of violence perpetrated against women and girls proved an eye-opening with background on how HIV managed to spread so widely throughout our country.


Entitled the National Survey on Violence Experienced by Female Children and Youths in Swaziland, the report offered confirmation for what government health and social welfare departments as well as NGOs working in this field had long concluded before the report was released two years ago. 

 

In a nutshell: abused women and girls proved more vulnerable to contracting HIV. 


The situation hasn’t changed between then and now.  But the findings are worth revisiting.


For the record: UNICEF’s Swaziland office provided funding and technical support for the effort.  Wide participation for the project was enjoined from the Swaziland government’s ministries of Health and Social Welfare, Education and Justice, NGOs like SWAGAA and World Vision and UNAIDS, the UN Population Fund and the World Health Organisation.


The key point that the study made was that the more “in control” a woman or girl is of her life, the less likely she will experience unwanted pregnancies, unwanted sexual advances and HIV/AIDS.


When an empowered woman says “no,” and her word is respected, this is the entire preventative that is required.


Unfortunately, a majority of our women do not have such a voice, concluded the comprehensive study.


“The prevalence of physical and sexual violence among females ages 13-24 indicate that violence is a major problem in Swaziland,” reported the National Survey on Violence.


However, the study admitted that it was only the beginning of efforts to understand the anomaly of cases of abuse victimising the most vulnerable persons in an otherwise peaceful society.


 “Very little research has been conducted on violence against children in Swaziland, although violence is a risk factor for a wide range of mental and physical health problems,” the report indicated. Back when the preliminary survey report was tabled, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Country representative Dr. Jama Gulaid, said:


 “It is important to know the epidemiology of violence against children and women – how big the problem is, who is affected, when, where and possibly why. 
We need such information to improve our response.”


During a one-month period, 48 households were selected in each of 40 areas of the country.  A female between the ages of 13 and 24 was randomly chosen to speak to interviewers in a confidential, voluntary and anonymous manner. 

Eight teams composed of 41 interviewers, all women, collected the data. 
To establish physical violence, key questions were asked, such as:
“Has any adult ever kicked, bitten, slapped, hit you with a fist, threatened you with a weapon or thrown something at you?” 


Questions were also asked to establish emotional and sexual abuse.  About 1900 households were visited, resulting in 1300 interviews.


One of the survey’s key and unsettling findings is that one out of three Swazi females reported experiencing some form of sexual violence before reaching 18 years of age.  Two out of three female adults, aged 18 to 24, experienced some form of sexual violence.


From their infancies to age 24, nearly half (48,2%) of Swazi women experienced some form of sexual violence. 


The hope of all girls of having a meaningful “first time” sexual experience with a compatible partner is a dream unobtainable for a majority of Swazi girls and women, many of whose first encounters were not wanted by them.  Six out of 10 Swazi females reported that they were forced into their first sexual experiences. 
Of these, 5% said they were raped or otherwise “forced.”


Women reported submitting to unwanted sex out of fear of physical violence.  The survey documented a foundation for their fears.  28% of girls 13 to 17 years old experienced physical violence.  The likelihood that they will be assaulted increased as they grew into adulthood, with 33% of women 18 to 24 years old reporting being violence survivors.


Exposure to education is no protection against violence according to the survey.  A sizable 98% of women and girls surveyed had been to school.


29% of women and girls reported unwanted pregnancies.


Seeking to describe the magnitude of the problem of violence against women and children, the survey found that despite the multiplicity of sexual encounters reported by women under 24, only 12,9% of them were married.


“Violence has a huge cost to society.  The physical consequences include injuries to the body and disability.  The psychological consequence include alcohol and drug abuse, depression, anxiety, development delays, eating disorders, suicidal tendencies, feelings of shame and guilt,” said UNICEF’s Country Representative Gulaid.


The sexual and reproductive consequences include sexual dysfunction, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, he said.  Also: AIDS.
Among girls 13 to 17 years old, one out of six reported experiencing some form of sexual violence during the past year.  The number rose to one out of four young women between 18 and 24 who survived sexual violence this past year.
The inevitable psychological toll is also recorded.


One of the saddest statistics reported by the survey is that depression infects a majority of Swazi women.  67% told surveyors they felt depressed.


Given the prevalence of violence committed against them and its deadly consequences, their gloomy moods are justified.


Are there ongoing efforts to update the report and has the situation changed with more public awareness of violence and sexual exploitation of women and girls?  Press reports since the survey indicate mixed progress. 


The treatment of sexual workers by soldiers reported this month is alarming, but the intervention of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office in the case of an honour student’s force withdrawal from school because her father wanted to marry her as a way to address their family’s poverty indicates that government is on message that Swazi women and girls need state protection if they and indeed the nation should live normally and productively.





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