PUBH 6060
Background
Violence against women is a critical public health problem in West Africa (World Health Organization, 2013). In particular, intimate partner violence contributes to many murders, health problems, and reproductive issues. Intimate partner violence includes sexual, physical, and situational couple violence, with physical violence most prevalent in West Africa. Overall, the prevalence rate of intimate partner violence in West Africa is 60% (Ndiaye, 2021). According to Ndiaye (2021), gender-based violence mainly affects low-income West Africans, making up 70% of all violence reports. For instance, wealth status is the most critical variable in Ghana when computing violence cases against women. Much of the violence is abetted by a complacency by society and government institutions to prosecute perpetrators of the violence, mainly due to entrenched gender norms. These include religious views towards marriage that force women to endure violence from their abusers and prejudiced or narrow-minded beliefs that enable the suppression of women. In West African areas plagued with violence, such as Northern Nigeria and Mali, cases of intimate partner violence are rarely reported due to a lack of capacity. While there have been comprehensive governmental and nongovernmental programs to campaign against violence against women, poor communities most affected by the phenomenon can primarily not benefit from the campaigns due to incapacity in technology. Thus, there is a need to develop more effective proformas to elevate the problem through employing multidimensional strategies to reach the poor and middle-income populations.
Introductory Methods
A wide variety of literature regarding gender-based violence in West Africa is necessary to gain context to accurately diffuse the causes of high intimate partner violence cases among the poor and middle-income populations. A literature review will aim at quantifying the available health promotion programs in West Africa that have accurately measured and prevented the prevalence of gender-based violence against women in poor and middle-income communities. The paper will come to the most effective and impactful health promotion programs suitable for application in West Africa, particularly in poor and middle-income communities. The databases to be consulted include the Word Health Organization database, the United Nations Women Global Database on Violence against Women, and the PubMed database for interrelations between population health and different promotion programs. These resources will facilitate the development of a holistic view of the situation in West Africa for the proper development of effective health promotion programs against intimate partner violence. The search times to be employed in the research exercise include:
Violence against Women OR Intimate Partner Violence OR Gender-based violence
Prevalence rate
Health promotion program OR best practices OR effective solutions.
The inclusion criteria include statistics of women from poor and middle-income backgrounds, while exclusion criteria include violence data related to intimate partner violence or gender-based violence, as well as intimate partner violence in high-income areas.
Programmatic Best Practices
According to Tenkorang et al. (2013), education is the most appropriate practice to end intimate partner violence. Education of men and women regarding how they can prevent future intimate partner violence and the steps they can take is important in empowering victims and deconstructing long-standing dogmas regarding gender-based violence in poor and middle-income communities (UN Women, 2020). Tenkorang et al. (2013) observe that community-based education through local religious gatherings and local civil meetings has effectively alleviated intimate partner violence in poor Ghanaian villages. Further, assistance programs where victims are provided with mental counseling and legal advice have proven essential in empowering poor women to report cases and move away from their abusers.
The document should include 1 to 2-page double-spaced text, maximum. The document does not comply with the outline for the assignment. Use either the American Psychological Association(APA) or the American Medical Association (AMA) writing style to format the document. Include properly formatted citations, references, and page numbers.
References
Ndiaye, N. A. (2021). Gender-Based Violence in West Africa: The Cases of Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Retrieved on 24 April 2022, from https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/fes-pscc/18242.pdf
Tenkorang, E. Y., Owusu, A. Y., Yeboah, E. H., & Bannerman, R. (2013). Factors influencing domestic and marital violence against women in Ghana. Journal of Family Violence, 28(8), 771-781.
UN Women. (2020). Take action: 10 Ways you can help end violence against women, even during a pandemic. Retrieved on 24 April 2022, from https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/11/compilation-take-action-to-help-end-violence-against-women
World Health Organization. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. Retrieved on 24 April 2022, from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/85239/?sequence=1