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