UNICEF South Sudan, Juba, South Sudan.
University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
J Interpers Violence. 2021 May;36(9-10):4758-4770. doi: 10.1177/0886260518792252. Epub 2018 Aug 10.
Sexual violence is quite common in conflict situations and puts women at risk of unintended pregnancies. In the northeast region of Nigeria with the ongoing insurgency, a substantial number of women are kidnapped and subjected to forced marriages and repeated sexual assaults. This study set out to report on the disclosure and outcomes of sexual violence-related pregnancies (SVRPs) among women liberated from insurgents and relocated to one of largest Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps located in Borno State, northeast Nigeria. The clinic records of women with SVRP were reviewed. Forty-seven women with SVRP were identified by the health care providers using a snowball technique to reach as many of the women with SVRP as possible. The mean age of the participants was 15.3 years ( = 3.4 years), and all the participants had spent 2 years or more in captivity. Most of the women first disclosed the pregnancy to their peers before disclosure to health care providers or family members. All the women initially requested to have the pregnancy terminated; however, abortion services are not offered in the clinic in line with the country's restrictive abortion laws. Following counseling and psychosocial support offered in the clinic, 19 (40%) of the women continued with the pregnancy and were delivered in the camp clinic while the remaining 26 women left the camp shortly after disclosure and pregnancy outcomes are not known. SVRP is not uncommon in humanitarian settings with its associated stigma and unwillingness among the survivors to keep the pregnancy. There is a need for further studies to provide more insight into the extent of this problem and help-seeking for SVRPs especially for women in such difficult circumstances to provide needed empirical information to drive advocacy efforts for more comprehensive services.
性暴力在冲突局势中很常见，使妇女面临意外怀孕的风险。在尼日利亚东北部持续的叛乱中，大量妇女被绑架并被迫结婚和遭受反复的性侵犯。本研究旨在报告从叛乱分子手中解放出来并转移到位于尼日利亚东北部博尔诺州最大的境内流离失所者营地之一的妇女中与性暴力相关的怀孕（SVRP）的披露和结果。审查了与 SVRP 相关的妇女的临床记录。通过使用滚雪球技术，医疗保健提供者确定了 47 名 SVRP 妇女，以尽可能多地接触到 SVRP 妇女。参与者的平均年龄为 15.3 岁（= 3.4 岁），所有参与者都被囚禁了 2 年或更长时间。大多数妇女首先向同龄人透露怀孕情况，然后才向医疗保健提供者或家庭成员透露。所有妇女最初都要求终止妊娠；然而，由于该国严格的堕胎法，诊所没有提供堕胎服务。在诊所提供咨询和心理社会支持后，19 名（40%）妇女继续怀孕，并在营地诊所分娩，而其余 26 名妇女在透露后不久离开营地，怀孕结果不得而知。在人道主义环境中，SVRP 并不罕见，幸存者普遍存在耻辱感和不愿意保留怀孕。需要进一步的研究来更深入地了解这个问题的程度，并为 SVRP 寻求帮助，特别是对于处于这种困难环境中的妇女，以提供必要的经验信息来推动倡导工作，以提供更全面的服务。
