Premium
Prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence among women attending HIV voluntary counseling and testing in northern Tanzania, 2005–2008
Author(s) -
Prabhu Malavika,
Mchome Bariki,
Ostermann Jan,
Itemba Dafrosa,
Njau Bernard,
Thielman Nathan
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2010.10.019
Subject(s) - medicine , domestic violence , voluntary counseling and testing , tanzania , demography , odds ratio , logistic regression , confidence interval , marital status , cross sectional study , poison control , injury prevention , population , environmental health , health facility , environmental planning , pathology , sociology , health services , environmental science
Objective To investigate the prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) among women at an HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) center in northern Tanzania. Methods In a cross‐sectional study, the lifetime history of IPV experienced by women attending an HIV VCT center in Moshi, Tanzania, from June 2005 to January 2008 was assessed. Bivariate and ordered logistic regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors for IPV. Results Of 2436 enrolled women, 432 (17.7%) reported IPV during their lifetime. Older, unemployed, and less‐educated women, and those with children were more likely to have experienced IPV ( P < 0.05). IPV exposure differed by marital status ( P < 0.001). Adjusting for sociodemographics, the odds ratio of IPV was 1.51 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10–2.07) for married women and 2.25 (95% CI 1.63–3.10) for divorced women, compared with single women. HIV prevalence did not differ by IPV exposure or severity; however, 22.4% of single women who had experienced IPV were HIV seropositive, compared with 15.1% of women with no experience of IPV ( P = 0.041). Conclusion Given that IPV represents both a risk factor for and a consequence of HIV infection, VCT sites are an appropriate and accessible venue for IPV screening and counseling in resource‐poor settings.