Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women on Under-Five Child Mortality in Bangladesh

Abstract

It is well established that intimate partner violence (IPV) against women adversely affects maternal morbidity and mortality. But a limited number of studies were found in the literature regarding the association between IPV and under-five child mortality. In this article, using Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2007 data, we examined the effect of IPV on under-five child mortality. A product-limit approach was used for bivariate survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazard multiple regression models were used to investigate the effect of IPV controlling potential confounders. In bivariate analysis, the variables exposure to IPV, mother's age at birth, mother's education, residence type, division, number of children, wealth index, occupation, access to media, and decision autonomy were found to be potential risk factors for child mortality. Results indicated that women exposed to IPV were more likely to experience under-five child mortality compared with women not exposed. The unadjusted hazard ratio for IPV was 1.21 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.09, 1.35]) with p value < .01, whereas it was 1.16 (95% CI = [1.04, 1.29]) with p value < .01 and 1.13 (95% CI = [1.01, 1.26]) with p value < .05 in two adjusted models. These results implied that IPV against women is a problem not only for women but also for their children's survival.

Neonatal, infant, and child mortality among women exposed to intimate partner violence in East Africa: a multi-country analysis

“…Study findings provide evidence for an association showing that children born to women who are IPV survivors were significantly more likely to die as newborns, infants, and children under five. These findings are consistent with those of previous studies in Bangladesh [16], India [17], and Kenya, Egypt, Malawi, Honduras, & Rwanda [18]. In essence, we concur that the high infant and child mortality rates among women experiencing IPV could be influenced by the negative impact on their mental and physical health, which is likely to affect their pregnancy and subsequent caregiving [19].…”

“…IPV affects the social, mental, and psychological well-being of the mother due to the traumatic nature of the violence they experience. This, therefore, affects their capacity to care for their child and contributes to underutilization of maternal health services [16]. Given the role that mothers play in a child's life, their health status during and after pregnancy is a direct predictor of an infant and child's health outcomes.…”

“…Does he become jealous or angry if you talk/ talked to other men? Sexual violence was described to respondents as your partner ever having: Forced you to have sexual intercourse when you did not want to, forced you to perform any sexual acts you did not want to, or forced you to have sex with another person [16].…”

Knowledge Translation Plan to Diffuse, Disseminate and Apply Evidence on Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

“…There is also consistent evidence that due to inevitable changes in physical, social, emotional, and economic needs, women are uniquely vulnerable to IPV victimization during pregnancy, and that women victims of IPV during pregnancy are more likely to experience repeated and severe forms of IPV, which places the health of mothers ad their unborn children at great risk [5,6]. Specifically, a vast body of research has shown that IPV during gestation is a significant risk factor for a variety of negative prenatal and postnatal outcomes including low-quality prenatal care [7,8], low fetal growth, low birth weight, adverse birth outcomes, and infant hospitalization [9][10][11][12][13], infant and child malnutrition and mortality [14][15][16][17], inadequate immunization during infancy [18], infant physical abuse, asthma onset during childhood and adolescence [19][20][21] and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms during infancy and childhood [22,23].…”

Impact of Intimate Partners’ Violence Against Women on Immunization Status of Children in Bangladesh

“…It has been found in many studies that there exists a negative impact of IPV on maternal physical and mental health [18][19][20] . Consequently, this negative impact of IPV on women may directly or indirectly affect children.…”