Knowledge Generation

Our innovation addresses sexual violence in humanitarian settings. An estimated 21% of forcibly displaced women experience sexual violence yet have constrained access to comprehensive post-rape care.[1] There is a dearth of sexual violence prevention and post-rape care interventions developed by and for refugee adolescents and youth who are overrepresented among refugees. We address sexual violence prevention and post-rape care with youth aged 16-24 in Uganda's Bidi Bidi refugee settlement.

Nearly 1 in every 2 girls in Uganda is married before they are 18 years. Parents force girls into marriages resulting in teenage pregnancies and its related complications. Girls are married off majorly for financial gains. Early marriages deny girls and women their right to make vital decisions about their sexual health and well-being. It forces them out of school, into a life of poor prospects with an increased risk of violence, poverty, abuse, ill health/early death.

There is evidence that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) increases the health risks and impact badly women's sexual and reproductive health. The current Tanzania Demographic Health Survey (TDHS 2015-2016) revealed that FGM is still a problem in Tanzania however the prevalence varies from region to region. Manyara and Dodoma regions have been reported to be one among the regions in Tanzania with high prevalence of FGM with prevalence of 58% and 47% respectively.

Female genital mutilation/cutting(FGM/C) is an unnecessary traditional procedure on the female genitalia which causes irreparable sexual,reproductive and psychological harm(Odukogbe et al 2017).it is a gender based act of violence, discrimination and human rights violation(CRC Article 12).An alarming 200 million women worldwide are victims with 3 million girls at risk yearly.Nigeria has the highest global prevalence with an estimated 20 million women of reproductive as victims(Epundu et al 2018)

Harmful socio-cultural norms in Ghana perpetuate high levels of SGBV against women and girls. It is considered normal for men to control women, inter-marital violence is also seen as private and survivors of SGBV face stigma. Often, women are not aware of their SRHR and are not able to claim them. Other barriers that prevent them from receiving support and justice when experiencing SGBV are costs associated with accessing these services including travel expenses and time,and lack of anonymity.

The department of Jalapa, located in eastern Guatemala, has a strong presence of gender violence, especially cases of sexual violence against girls under 14. Just in the first semester of 2018, the Ministry of Public Health reported more than 60 cases of pregnancies in girls under 14, which is considered aggravated sexual violence by our law. In addition, more than 1,600 cases of pregnancies have been reported in adolescents, influenced by different circumstances, one of them is sexual violence.

Despite high levels of violence against women, only a limited number access critical health or legal services in the event of GBV. A key issue is DATE Rape, a form of intimate partner violence that is often ignored and normalised. Despite the plethora of GBV response services given by government, NGOs, communities; Young women are unable to receive life saving medical help, particularly PEP, emergency contraception and critical forensic evidence is lost before women approach the justice system.

Worldwide, 45 percent of births are to women aged 15-24 (UN 2012). In Uganda, the average woman becomes sexually active at 17 and has her first child at age 20 (PMA 2017a). While premarital sex and early marriage are common, they are also stigmatized, rendering youth vulnerable to exclusion from reproductive health services. As a result, only 48% of young, unmarried sexually active girls use modern contraceptives, and only 41% of users received contraceptive counseling (PMA 2017b).

Our innovation addresses two problems: lack of access to information on contraception and family planning (FP) in Madagascar, and the resulting low uptake of contraceptives and FP services. The contraceptive rate is 38.9% (PSI TRAC PF 2017) with 16.4% of married women reporting an unmet need for contraception or wanting to space/ limit pregnancy. Lack of accurate information about different contraceptive methods and lack of access to effective long-term methods are barriers to use.

Swazi men have a high acceptance of the traditional oppressive gender norms that deny the rights of women & girls. The county's HIV prevalence stand at just over 30%, whilst 4 in 10 Swazi males believe that if a woman wears a short skirt she is asking to be raped. The correlation between such widespread harmful gender norms, supported by a sense of cultural entitlement and the world's worst HIV epidemic is undeniable and leads directly to poor SRHR for all and (sexual) intimate partner violence.