Health Services for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence in Northern Uganda: A Qualitative Study

Henttonen, Mirkka; Watts, Charlotte; Roberts, Bayard; Kaducu, Felix; Borchert, Matthias

doi:10.1016/s0968-8080(08)31353-6

Cited by 36 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…61 Only four articles evaluated healthcare services in regard to SV response. 48,49,63,64 One weak quality study, situated in Colombia, stressed the importance of a culturally sensitive integrated response to SV that allowed vulnerable women to access comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. The project closely collaborated with different local governmental and civil society organisations, such as health councils, health committees, pastors, women's groups and youth networks, to create strong links with other relevant services such as legal aid, and to challenge local attitudes and social mechanisms that condone SV through awareness-raising campaigns.…”

Section: Treatment and Counsellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This approach was seen as essential to the achievement of the project to increase the visibility of available services and to increase access to appropriate care. 46 In addition, Henttonen et al 64 further found that appropriate health services require regular training in SV of all health staff as well as a stronger orientation of services towards adolescents to maintain proper care. Particularly adolescent women were found to be vulnerable to SV, which required health services to offer youthfriendly services with special hours to better meet their need of care in case of SV.…”

Section: Treatment and Counsellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Particularly adolescent women were found to be vulnerable to SV, which required health services to offer youthfriendly services with special hours to better meet their need of care in case of SV. 64 A strong quality study by Wirtz et al 49 and a weaker one by Vu et al 48 described the development and testing of the ASIST-GBV screening tool, which was specifically designed for conflict areas of Colombia and Ethiopia to increase timely identification and referral of SV survivors for treatment and appropriate services. The tool has been shown to be accurate, practical and easy to use, adaptable to context, specific to women's and girl's needs and suitable for resource-constrained humanitarian settings.…”

Section: Treatment and Counsellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Programme potential for the prevention of and response to sexual violence among female refugees: a literature review

Robbers

Morgan

2017

Reproductive Health Matters

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Continuing international conflict has resulted in several million people seeking asylum in other countries each year, over half of whom are women. Their reception and security in overburdened camps, combined with limited information and protection, increases their risk and exposure to sexual violence (SV). This literature review explores the opportunities to address SV against female refugees, with a particular focus on low-resource settings. A systematic literature review of articles published between 2000 and 2016 was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Databases including Medline (Ovid), PubMed, Scopus, PsychINFO, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library. Grey literature from key refugee websites were searched. Studies were reviewed for quality and analysed according to the framework outlined in the UNHCR Guidelines on Prevention and Response of Sexual Violence against Refugees. Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria, of which 7 studies addressed prevention, 14 studies response and 8 addressed both. There are limited numbers of rigorously evaluated SV prevention and response interventions available, especially in the context of displacement. However, emerging evidence shows that placing a stronger emphasis on programmes in the category of engagement/participation and training/education has the potential to target underlying causes of SV. SV against female refugees is caused by factors including lack of information and gender inequality. This review suggests that SV interventions that engage community members in their design and delivery, address harmful gender norms through education and advocacy, and facilitate strong cooperation between stakeholders, could maximise the efficient use of limited resources.

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Section: Treatment and Counsellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Treatment and Counsellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Treatment and Counsellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Programme potential for the prevention of and response to sexual violence among female refugees: a literature review

Robbers

Morgan

2017

Reproductive Health Matters

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“…For sexual violence in conflict, this means, for example, that essential services for sexual violence victims/survivors are largely unavailable, inaccessible, and inadequate (Chynoweth 2008;Hakamies et al 2008;Henttonen et al 2008;Krause et al 2015;Qayum et al 2013). As Wayte et al (2008) put it: 'there is a large gap between what is recommended and the reality in the field' (p. 90), even though sexual violence has severe physical, psychological, and social consequences for victims/survivors that extend to their families and communities-such as children born from rape (Isis-WICCE 2001; Krantz and Garcia-Moreno 2005;Longombe et al 2008).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An example of this is provided by Henttonen et al (2008), who found that services for sexual violence victims/survivors in northern Uganda exclusively targeted those that had been violated by unknown armed combatants, even though violence from known perpetrators was much more prevalent.…”

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confidence: 99%

Understanding sexual violence in armed conflict: cutting ourselves with Occam’s razor

Anholt

2016

Int J Humanitarian Action

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Sexual violence has been firmly put on the internal agenda of the humanitarian community. Despite commendable advances in both policy and practice, there continues to be a gap between what is recommended and the reality in the field. In this paper, I argue that, notwithstanding the profound challenges of working in humanitarian emergencies, our understanding of sexual violence in conflict is watered down to such an extent that it impedes effective humanitarian action. First, humanitarians' reductionist approach to sexual violence not only disregards victims/survivors other than the stereotypical but also exempts perpetrators from scrutiny-including the international humanitarian community itself, through whose extensive depoliticisation of sexual violence has erased the link between gender inequality and violence. Second, the international humanitarian community has positioned itself as the white, western, heroic protector of vulnerable women and girls (and not men and boys)-a narrative that not only escalates power differences between humanitarian and beneficiary but also reproduces the subordination of women. Third, an exposé of silences in international discourses about sexual violence in armed conflict shows the humanitarian community's complicity in reproducing systems of gender inequality that allow for sexual violence to occur and remain unaddressed, by refusing to transform the restrictive political environment that ultimately impedes effective humanitarian action. This analysis of humanitarian sexual violence discourses indicates a mismatch between the nature of the issue and the way in which it is understood, leading to ineffective programmes on the ground. Humanitarians' engagement with critical research, as well as researchers' engagement with feminism, may recreate meanings that benefit our understanding rather than impede it.

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Health Sector Inadequacies in Attending to Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse in Kenya: An Operations Research

et al. 2018

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In 2015, LVCT Health (a Kenyan non-governmental organisation) conducted an exploratory study to assess the quality and comprehensiveness of services provided to child survivors of sexual violence at two public health facilities in Kenya. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used, including a retrospective review of 164 child survivor medical records, a health facility staff inventory, in-depth interviews with 31 healthcare providers and 19 exit interviews with 14 child survivors and their caregivers. Ethical approval was obtained from two independent ethics committees. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS version 22, while qualitative data were analysed using NVivo 10 based on a thematic coding framework. The health facility staff inventory indicated that only two out of 581 providers had undergone previous training on the management of child survivors of sexual violence. Both health facilities lacked the appropriate equipment for the collection of forensic evidence from children and private rooms in which to conduct the clinical examination. Providers cited challenges in offering psychosocial support to children. Only 27 per cent of child survivors were documented to have received trauma counselling. There is a need for health facilities to enhance their human resource and infrastructural capacity to facilitate the delivery of comprehensive care to child survivors. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGES:• There is a need to develop child-specific guidelines for healthcare providers in order to ensure that child survivors of sexual violence receive good-quality services at the facility level. • Healthcare providers in public health facilities need competency-based training to enable them to acquire knowledge and skills to identify and respond to child survivors of sexual violence, collect evidence, communicate with the children and offer counselling support to child survivors effectively. • Services for child survivors should be centralised in health facilities to minimise the number of different contact points.

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Health Services for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence in Northern Uganda: A Qualitative Study

Cited by 36 publications

References 5 publications

Programme potential for the prevention of and response to sexual violence among female refugees: a literature review

Programme potential for the prevention of and response to sexual violence among female refugees: a literature review

Understanding sexual violence in armed conflict: cutting ourselves with Occam’s razor

Health Sector Inadequacies in Attending to Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse in Kenya: An Operations Research

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