Magnitude and patterns of child sexual abuse: A retrospective cross-sectional study among male pediatric patients at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia
Date
2017
Authors
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Publisher
Ethiopian Journal of Health Development
Abstract
Background: Sexual abuse of boys is a neglected problem in many developing countries, including Ethiopia. As
a result, its prevalence and the circumstances under which it often occurs tend to remain unnoticed. Child sexual
abuse is frequently reported to emergency departments at hospitals. However, the symptoms can be subtle and
masked by vague histories and non-specific physical examinations. The objective of this study was to determine
the prevalence and describe the patterns of sexual abuse of male pediatric patients at Tikur Anbessa Specialized
Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out to describe causes of male pediatric sexual abuse
presented to the Pediatric Emergency Unit at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital between the years 2011 - 2015.
The number of male children who visited the Pediatric Emergency Unit during the study period was 38,410. Out
of these, 327 were suspected to have fallen victim to sexual abuse. A structured questionnaire was used to collect
data from the male pediatric patients who visited the Pediatric Emergency Unit with the suspicion of sexual abuse
(327).
Results: The prevalence of sexual abuse among male patients presented to the Pediatric Emergency Unit was
0.85%. Twenty-three percent of the victims were between the ages of 1 – 5 years old. The mean age of the abused
children was 6.7 years (SD 2.8). The majority of the victims (67.3%) reported the abuse to their mothers. About
thirty-six percent (35.8%) of the reports were made within one week of the incident. All the victims were tested for
HIV on the first presentation of the incident to the emergency unit. Of those who were tested for HIV, 95.7% were
negative. The majority of the perpetrators of the reported sexual abuse were from outside the home of the victims.
Neighbors accounted for 55.5% of these perpetrators.
Conclusions: This study provides data for policymakers and other stakeholders to improve the well-being and
safety of children. Given that the majority of incidents of male child sexual abuse occur by people children
themselves know from outside their homes, strategies that involve the community and that protect children against
the threat need to be designed. People to be involved may include parents, health professionals and pertinent
personnel from the Ministry of Health. Others such as caregivers, schools, police department, Youth and Women’s
Affairs, and child advocacy organizations should be called up on to work together and design mechanisms of
checking the expansion of this public health challenge.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
male victims, child sexual abuse, Pediatric Emergency Unit, community response, International Resources, Ethiopia
Citation
Tefera, M. (2017). Magnitude and patterns of child sexual abuse: A retrospective cross-sectional study among male pediatric patients at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, 31(4), 221-227.