Gender-Based Violence and Women Reproductive Health in War Affected Area

Abstract

Manifestations of gender-based violence although many, and sometimes more pronounced in areas of armed conflict, go unnoticed due to multiple factors. Gender-based violence targeted towards women, affect their overall health negatively, particularly the reproductive well-being. Major conflicts arising in the Middle East over the past 10-15 years, ranging from the Arab uprising to the Syrian civil war, have drawn attention world-wide. This study aims to shed light on the importance of recognizing violence against women, its effect on their reproductive health, and the policies that should be implemented to limit its adverse impact. Towards this end, we have highlighted the important role played by all healthcare professionals, epidemiologists, and surveyors working in peace and war areas to recognize such atrocities towards women.

Keywords: Gender-Based Violence; Intimate Partner Violence; Rape; Reproductive Health; Sex Offenses.

Figure. 1.

Adverse effect of war in different forms. War causes different impacts on society, the country’s economy, damage to physical infrastructure and property, and most importantly it seriously impacts the human well-being. War-affected areas are constantly plagued with problems of chronic malnutrition, spread of diseases and infections, direct loss of life due to the war, which together contribute further to gender-based violence. Victims of gender-based violence can be either men or women, however, the most evident form of adverse impact is violence against women and children which includes women trafficking, domestic and intimate partner violence, threatening women psychologically and physically, as well as violence against women’s sex and reproductive health. we especially shed light on the form of violence which ultimately impact women’s sex and reproductive health. The forms of violence include the use of females as weapons, rape and forced prostitution, forceful marriages and pregnancy, female genital mutilation, femicide and honor killing, female infanticide, and deliberate neglect of girls. In war-affected areas, females are more prone to be a victim of such forms of violence.