Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Nov 10:10:28.
doi: 10.1186/1472-698X-10-28.

War related sexual violence and it's medical and psychological consequences as seen in Kitgum, Northern Uganda: A cross-sectional study

Eugene Kinyanda  1 , Seggane Musisi, Christine Biryabarema, Isaac Ezati, Henry Oboke, Ruth Ojiambo-Ochieng, Juliet Were-Oguttu, Jonathan Levin, Heiner Grosskurth, James Walugembe
Affiliations

War related sexual violence and it's medical and psychological consequences as seen in Kitgum, Northern Uganda: A cross-sectional study

Eugene Kinyanda et al. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. .

Abstract

Background: Despite the recent adoption of the UN resolution 1820 (2008) which calls for the cessation of war related sexual violence against civilians in conflict zones, Africa continues to see some of the worst cases of war related sexual violence including the mass sexual abuse of entire rural communities particularly in the Great Lakes region. In addition to calling for a complete halt to this abuse, there is a need for the systematic study of the reproductive, surgical and psychological effects of war related sexual violence in the African socio-cultural setting.This paper examines the specific long term health consequences of war related sexual violence among rural women living in two internally displaced person's camps in Kitgum district in war affected Northern Uganda who accessed the services of an Isis-Women's International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) medical intervention.

Methods: The study employed a purposive cross-sectional study design where 813 respondents were subjected to a structured interview as part of a screening procedure for an emergency medical intervention to identify respondents who required psychological, gynaecological and surgical treatment.

Results: Over a quarter (28.6%) of the women (n = 573) reported having suffered at least one form of war related sexual violence. About three quarters of the respondents had 'at least one gynaecological complaint' (72.4%) and 'at least one surgical complaint' (75.6%), while 69.4% had significant psychological distress scores (scores greater than or equal to 6 on the WHO SRQ-20). The factors that were significantly associated with war related sexual violence were the age group of less than or equal to 44 years, being Catholic, having suffered other war related physical trauma, and having 'at least one gynaecological complaint'. The specific gynaecological complaints significantly associated with war related sexual violence were infertility, chronic lower abdominal pain, abnormal vaginal bleeding, and sexual dysfunction. In a multivariable analysis the age group of less than or equal to 44 years, being Catholic and having 'at least one gynaecological complaint' remained significantly associated with war related sexual violence.

Conclusion: The results from this study demonstrate that war related sexual violence is independently associated with the later development of specific gynaecological complaints.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ward J, Marsh M. Proceedings of the Symposium on sexual violence in conflict and beyond. Brussels, Belgium; 2006. Sexual violence against women and girls in war and its aftermath: Realities, responses and required resources.
    1. Longombe AO, Claude KM, Ruminjo J. Fistula and traumatic genital injury from sexual violence in a conflict setting in Eastern Congo: Case studies. RHM. 2008;16(31):132–141. - PubMed
    1. United Nations. Resolution 1820 (2008) Adopted by the Security Council at 5916th meeting, on 19th 2008. S/RES/1820. 2008.
    1. Lunde I, Ortmann J. In: Torture and its consequences - current treatment approaches. Basoglu M, editor. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press; 1998. Sexual torture and the treatment of it's consequences; pp. 310–329.
    1. Skylv G. In: Torture and its consequences - current treatment approaches. Basoglu M, editor. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press; 1998. The physical sequelae of torture; pp. 38–55.

LinkOut - more resources