Assessment of Awareness of Available Gender Based Violence Interventions among Women of Reproductive Age in Kibera Slums Nairobi
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Date
2021
Authors
Wairimu, Wanjohi Bancy
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Dealing with violence against women is key for achieving sustainable development
goals (SDG) for equality of gender and empowering women and SDGs 3, 4 and 5.
Globally, GBV prevalence accounts for 10-35%. In the year 2014, 45% of Kenyan
women aged 14-49 years have reported some form of gender-based violence in their
lifetime. About 29% of the women reported to have had experienced it in the previous
year. About 16% of these women, reported sexual abuse and 13%, of them had it
happen in the previous year. The study assessed awareness on available GBV
interventions to women of reproductive age in Kibera. It also identified the types of
interventions which were offered to survivors. Descriptive cross sectional study was
used (which involved collecting and analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data)
and this was conducted in Kibera slums. A sample size of 390 women of the
reproductive age was conveniently selected from Kibera which has 13 villages hence 30
women from each village. The respondents were interviewed to obtain the required
information using structured questionnaires which had both closed and open ended
questions. SPSS version 20 was used for statistical analysis. Chi square tests was
carried out to assess awareness of availabile GBV interventions. Descriptive analysis
was used. This study confirms that there is a gap between the variable age where the p
value is 0.001 which is less than the level of significance of 0.05 where the younger an
individual is, the lower the level of awareness on available GBV interventions. The
higher the education level, the lower the level of GBV as per the findings where the
variable education had a p value of 0.001. The study found challenges in accessing
health care for victims of GBV where survivors felt they could not report the
perpetrators most of who were the breadwinners hence legal measures was the least
taken form of intervention accounting for only 4.3% of the study participants had
sought legal redress.Verbal abuse was the most rampant form of abuse accounting for
24.4%. A 49.1% of the interviewees did not seek any help for the abuse faced. About
10% of the interviewees had faced more than two forms of abuse. Sexual abuse
accounted for 18.7% which is higher than what had been reported by KDHS in Kenya
in the year 2014 which was at 16%. The rape cases were at 3.3% which is a higher
number considering this was just done in one slum area in Kenya which when compared
to South Africa that reported a prevalence of 11% of rape cases. Affordability of
interventions, accessibility, acceptability of legal measures and cultural factors all have
a p value of less than 0.05 meaning that these factors affect awareness of the available
GBV interventions. Out of the clients interviewed, 28.7% were not aware about any
type of interventions offered. The study also found that majority of the cases occurred
from their partners or people within the household. Sexual harassment rate was high as
well as verbal abuse accounting for 15.4% and 24.4% respectively. The findings of this
study if applied will assist in raising awareness on the available GBV interventions in
Kibera Slums.
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Science (Public Reproductive Health) in the school of Public Health of Kenyatta University, April, 2021
Keywords
Assessment, Awareness, Available Gender Based Violence Interventions, Women of Reproductive Age, Kibera Slums, Nairobi