Sexual Violence and its Consequence among Female Night School Students In Hawassa town, Southern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

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Date

2010-06

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Addis Abeba Universty

Abstract

Background: Several school based studies indicated that female students are vulnerable to sexual violence in Ethiopia. In some parts of the country, sexual violence among female students reached up to 21.2%. However, there is still a knowledge gap about the magnitude of sexual violence among female night school students in Ethiopia. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess level of sexual violence and its consequence among night time school students in Hawassa town. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of sexual violence among female night school students in Hawassa town involving 520 randomly selected students from 11 junior primary school and three high schools from December 2010 to Feb 2011. Results: The finding of this study indicated that 14% of the students were raped at list once in their life time while 26.6% faced an attempted rape. Most of the students 83% reported to have faced sexual harassment in their lifetime. The odd of experiencing lifetime rape were higher among female students who drink alcohol, had more than two sexual partners and who were raised in rural areas. Among the victims of completed lifetime rape, n= 24(33.3%) had experienced unwanted pregnancy, n=25 (34.7%) reported injury around the genitalia, n=8 (11.1%) had reported unusual vaginal discharge, n=1(1.4%) experienced swelling around the genitalia and n=12 (16.7%) had abortion. psychological outcomes like unhappiness, suicidal ideation and suicidal attempt were reported by 45.8%, 8.3% and 11.1% of the rape victims; respectively. Conclusion: Female night school students are highly vulnerable to unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections including HIV due to sexual violence. The problem is high among female students which are extending beyond self harm to other parts of the public. Appropriate intervention shall be in place by participating every concerned party including parents, teachers and other community members to halt the practice especially among night school female students.

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Sexual Violence and its Consequence among Female

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