Extent and causes of increased domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: community health worker perspectives from Kenya, Bangladesh, and Haiti

Abstract

BackgroundEmerging data, media reports, and anecdotal evidence suggest that domestic violence (DV) has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, more detailed data are needed on the magnitude, forms, and causes of DV during COVID-19 in different contexts worldwide. We sought to contribute such evidence from the perspective of community health workers (CHWs) in low-middle income countries in three different regions of the world. MethodsWe conducted phone surveys with female and male CHWs from September-December 2020 in Kenya (n=1,385), Bangladesh (n=370), and Haiti (n=261). Descriptive and selected bivariate analyses were performed.

Covid-induced intimate partner violence: scoping review from Africa between 2020 and 2022

“…Moreover, we found that the continental distribution of articles on IPV seems to be concentrated around Ethiopia. Thus, Ethiopia 5 (50%) (Gebrewahd et al, 2020;Shewangzaw Engda et al, 2022;Shitu et al, 2021;Tadesse et al, 2022;Teshome et al, 2021), Nigeria 2(20%) (Fawole et al, 2021;Ojeahere et al, 2022), Kenya 1(10%) (Gottert et al, 2021), Tunisia 1(10) (Sediri et al, 2020), and Zimbabwe 1(10%) (Turner et al, 2022).…”

“…However, there are studies (Adejimi et al, 2014;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015) that reported females as perpetrators too (Macassa et al, 2022). Though IPV predated the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, the pandemic became a significant addition to the predictors of this social menace for various reasons (Duncan et al, 2020;Gottert et al, 2021;Jarnecke and Flanagan, 2020;John et al, 2020;Mazza et al, 2020; United Nations Women [UNW], 2020a).…”

“…The fear of the pandemic ignited a global panic, forcing many leaders across the globe to adopt control measures that were mostly reactionary (Campbell, 2020;WHO, 2020a;2020b;Tadesse et al, 2022). These measures included restrictions on human activities, movements, and community lockdowns, in most cases (Gottert et al, 2021;Undie et al, 2021). Evidence on the impact of the pandemic reported disturbing increases in the incidence of IPV, especially against women globally (Sharma and Borah, 2020;Undie et al, 2021).…”

“…Unfortunately, many people also lost their jobs and became economically disadvantaged, igniting incidents of stress, anxiety, depression, frustration, and hopelessness (Mazza et al, 2020;Roesch et al, 2020). Moreover, there were no avenues for victims to report perpetrators and explore other helpseeking opportunities (Gottert et al, 2021;UNW, 2020a;2020b). Thus, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic exacerbated the pre-existing predictors of IPV and its impact was worldwide (Moreira and Da Costa, 2020;Tadesse et al, 2022).…”

Analysing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health of people using fuzzy MCDM methods

“…In addition, financial losses during and after the outbreak not only increased the financial burden but also resulted in anger, frustration, and excessive substance use [12] . Further, statistics suggest that there was an increase in domestic violence during COVID-19 due to increased stress/tension related to economic hardship and childcare [13] . Also, it has been reported that restrictions in movement due to COVID-19 in the early stages resulted in frequent, severe, and dangerous violence at home [14] .…”