Intimate partner violence is one of the most common forms of violence against women and includes physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and controlling behaviors by an intimate partner.
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in South Africa
- physical violence
- sexual violence
- stalking
- psychological aggression.
How to break the vicious cycle
The challenge
Half of women murdered in South Africa are killed by their intimate partner. Our country has reported the highest rates of such murders in the world.1 However, the devastating physical, mental and social consequences of this problem are mostly hidden.
There is very strong evidence that intimate partner violence (IPV) exists in a vicious cycle with HIV, mental illness, poor reproductive health, poor childhood development and chronic disease, and leads to n umerous injuries, disability and death.2,3 Abused women are twice as likely as non-abused women to report physical and mental health problems.4
This problem is costly since women in abusive relationships make greater use of health and other services
A window of opportunity
IPV survivors are often hesitant to disclose their situation, due to stigma. Many have had bad experiences with service providers who fail to detect their problem or deny that it exists. Health and social services provide windows of opportunity to identify and respond to this violence constructively. Simple actions from several sources can, together, operate to prevent the consequences of IPV and establish social norms against IPV
What is IPV in South Africa?
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a silent public health epidemic in South Africa (SA). Interpersonal violence in SA is the second highest burden of disease after HIV/AIDS, and for women 62% of the former is ascribed to IPV. IPV presents in many ways, cutting across all medical disciplines.
How common is intimate partner violence in South Africa?
South Africa has one of the highest rates of intimate partner or domestic violence in the world with 50% of all murders of women being by their intimate partners at a rate of 8.8 per 100,000 population
How can the courts contribute towards dealing with IPV South Africa ?
Courts remain limited in their ability to solve the problem of domestic violence. As such, the court’s role remains as it always has been – to use sentencing policy to denounce domestic violence in clear terms and to deter the offender and other persons from committing acts of domestic violence.
What can be done to stop gender-based violence in South Africa?
What can be done to prevent GBV?
high school learners in classroom sessions and after-school workshops;
high school teachers and staff through skills building workshops; and.
caregivers (e.g. parents) of young teenagers through weekend workshops.