The relationship between intimate partner violence and child malnutrition: a retrospective study in 29 sub-Saharan
Kunhong Lin1, Pengxiang Zhou2,3, Mengyuan Liu1
1Department of Pediatrics, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China.
Insights
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is linked to child stunting in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sexual violence strongly correlates with stunting, while wasting shows a negative association with IPV.
Area of Science:
- Global public health
- Child development
- Sociology
Background:
- Intimate partner violence (IPV) and child malnutrition are pressing global public health concerns.
- Previous research on the IPV-child malnutrition link in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) yields inconsistent findings.
- Maternal well-being, environment, and rights may mediate the association between IPV and child health outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the association between various forms of IPV and child anthropometric failures in 29 SSA countries.
- To investigate the relationship between physical, sexual, and emotional violence and child stunting, underweight, and wasting.
- To provide data-driven insights for global health strategies addressing IPV and child malnutrition.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys data from 29 SSA countries (2010-2021).
- Categorization of IPV into physical, sexual, and emotional violence as exposure variables.
- Utilized adjusted binary logistic regression to examine the relationship between IPV and child nutritional status (stunting, wasting, underweight).
Main Results:
- Over 186,000 children under five were analyzed; 27.1% were stunted, 6.1% wasted, and 21.3% underweight.
- Sexual violence emerged as the strongest predictor of stunting (AOR=1.11, p=0.012), even after controlling for covariates.
- A slight negative association was observed between wasting and IPV, with no significant link found between underweight and IPV.
Conclusions:
- IPV demonstrates a positive association with child stunting in SSA, particularly sexual violence.
- The unexpected negative association between IPV and wasting warrants further investigation.
- No clear correlation exists between underweight and IPV, highlighting the complex interplay of factors affecting child nutrition.
Introduction And Background:
Intimate partner violence (IPV) and child malnutrition are global public health issues. Assessing the association between IPV and child anthropometric failures (stunting, underweight, and wasting) in 29 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries can provide significant global health solutions. Some studies have found an association between IPV against women and child malnutrition, but the conclusions are inconsistent. The physical and psychological conditions, living environment, and rights of the mother may be involved.
Methods:
We collected and analyzed the Demographic and Health Surveys data (2010-2021) of 29 SSA countries. The main exposure variables were various types of IPV, classified as physical, sexual, and emotional violence. The outcome was the child's development index, which can be roughly divided into stunting, wasting, and underweight. An adjusted binary logistic regression model was used to test the relationship between IPV and children's nutritional status.
Results:
A total of 186,138 children under 5 years of age were included in the analysis; 50,113 (27.1%) of the children were stunted, 11,329 (6.1%) were wasted, and 39,459 (21.3%) were underweight in all regions. The child's gender, age, duration of breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and vitamin A supplements intake in the past 6 months were associated with their nutritional status (p < 0.001). Sexual violence was the strongest factor associated with stunting, which remained statistically significant after controlling all variables (AOR = 1.11; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.21; p = 0.012). We also found a small negative association between wasting and IPV. For underweight, there were no associations with IPV after controlling for all variables (p > 0.05).
Conclusion:
IPV is positively associated with child stunting in SSA countries. Sexual violence showed a strong positive correlation with stunting. Wasting was unexpectedly negatively associated with IPV. There was no clear correlation between underweight and violence.
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