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Trends and patterns of sexual assaults in Lagos south-western Nigeria

INTRODUCTION: Sexual assault is a severely traumatic experience that disproportionally affects women and girls. Yet there is limited information on the subject in our environment. This study was conducted to determine the trend and pattern of sexual assault among Nigerians. METHODS: A retrospective...

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Autores principales: Ezechi, Oliver Chukwujekwu, Adesolamusa, Zaidat, David, Agatha Nkiru, Wapmuk, Agatha Eileen, Gbajabiamila, Titilola Abike, Eugeniaidigbe, Ifeoma, Ezeobi, Paschal Mbanefo, Ohihoin, Aigbe Greg, Ujah, Innocent Achanya Otobo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The African Field Epidemiology Network 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5075452/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27800114
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2016.24.261.9172
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author Ezechi, Oliver Chukwujekwu
Adesolamusa, Zaidat
David, Agatha Nkiru
Wapmuk, Agatha Eileen
Gbajabiamila, Titilola Abike
Eugeniaidigbe, Ifeoma
Ezeobi, Paschal Mbanefo
Ohihoin, Aigbe Greg
Ujah, Innocent Achanya Otobo
author_facet Ezechi, Oliver Chukwujekwu
Adesolamusa, Zaidat
David, Agatha Nkiru
Wapmuk, Agatha Eileen
Gbajabiamila, Titilola Abike
Eugeniaidigbe, Ifeoma
Ezeobi, Paschal Mbanefo
Ohihoin, Aigbe Greg
Ujah, Innocent Achanya Otobo
author_sort Ezechi, Oliver Chukwujekwu
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Sexual assault is a severely traumatic experience that disproportionally affects women and girls. Yet there is limited information on the subject in our environment. This study was conducted to determine the trend and pattern of sexual assault among Nigerians. METHODS: A retrospective study of sexual assault victims managed at a large clinic in south west Nigeria. Victims were identified from the programme data base and case files retrieved from medical records department. Relevant information was extracted and managed with SPSS for windows version 19. RESULTS: Steady increase in the proportion of reported cases of sexual violence over the years (P < 0.0001) was observed. Sexual assaults were recorded among the males (6.1%), although female victims were in the majority (93.9%). Sexual assault was found to be higher in person’s <20 years and the unmarried. Most sexual assault occurred during the day time. Assailants were mostly persons known to the victim (52.0%) and the assault occurred mostly in the assailants’ house or office (48.5%). Sexual assault through vaginal route only (87.2%) was the most common route of sexual assault. Threat of violence (31.1%) and physical force (29.6%) was the common methods for overcoming the victims. Follow up was completed by 75.0% of the victims. CONCLUSION: Sexual assault is common in our environment, with increasing prevalence and change in pattern. Young persons aged less than 20 years constitutes the majority of victims and assailants were mostly persons known to them. The current public education on the evils of sexual violence should be intensified.
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spelling pubmed-50754522016-10-31 Trends and patterns of sexual assaults in Lagos south-western Nigeria Ezechi, Oliver Chukwujekwu Adesolamusa, Zaidat David, Agatha Nkiru Wapmuk, Agatha Eileen Gbajabiamila, Titilola Abike Eugeniaidigbe, Ifeoma Ezeobi, Paschal Mbanefo Ohihoin, Aigbe Greg Ujah, Innocent Achanya Otobo Pan Afr Med J Research INTRODUCTION: Sexual assault is a severely traumatic experience that disproportionally affects women and girls. Yet there is limited information on the subject in our environment. This study was conducted to determine the trend and pattern of sexual assault among Nigerians. METHODS: A retrospective study of sexual assault victims managed at a large clinic in south west Nigeria. Victims were identified from the programme data base and case files retrieved from medical records department. Relevant information was extracted and managed with SPSS for windows version 19. RESULTS: Steady increase in the proportion of reported cases of sexual violence over the years (P < 0.0001) was observed. Sexual assaults were recorded among the males (6.1%), although female victims were in the majority (93.9%). Sexual assault was found to be higher in person’s <20 years and the unmarried. Most sexual assault occurred during the day time. Assailants were mostly persons known to the victim (52.0%) and the assault occurred mostly in the assailants’ house or office (48.5%). Sexual assault through vaginal route only (87.2%) was the most common route of sexual assault. Threat of violence (31.1%) and physical force (29.6%) was the common methods for overcoming the victims. Follow up was completed by 75.0% of the victims. CONCLUSION: Sexual assault is common in our environment, with increasing prevalence and change in pattern. Young persons aged less than 20 years constitutes the majority of victims and assailants were mostly persons known to them. The current public education on the evils of sexual violence should be intensified. The African Field Epidemiology Network 2016-07-20 /pmc/articles/PMC5075452/ /pubmed/27800114 http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2016.24.261.9172 Text en © Oliver Chukwujekwu Ezechi et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Ezechi, Oliver Chukwujekwu
Adesolamusa, Zaidat
David, Agatha Nkiru
Wapmuk, Agatha Eileen
Gbajabiamila, Titilola Abike
Eugeniaidigbe, Ifeoma
Ezeobi, Paschal Mbanefo
Ohihoin, Aigbe Greg
Ujah, Innocent Achanya Otobo
Trends and patterns of sexual assaults in Lagos south-western Nigeria
title Trends and patterns of sexual assaults in Lagos south-western Nigeria
title_full Trends and patterns of sexual assaults in Lagos south-western Nigeria
title_fullStr Trends and patterns of sexual assaults in Lagos south-western Nigeria
title_full_unstemmed Trends and patterns of sexual assaults in Lagos south-western Nigeria
title_short Trends and patterns of sexual assaults in Lagos south-western Nigeria
title_sort trends and patterns of sexual assaults in lagos south-western nigeria
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5075452/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27800114
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2016.24.261.9172
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