Prevalence of HIV among victims of sexual assault who were mentally impaired children (5 to 18 years) in the Mthatha area of South Africa

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Prevalence of HIV among victims of sexual assault who were mentally impaired children (5 to 18 years) in the Mthatha area of South Africa —
 
Creator Meel, Banwari L.
 
Subject Forensic Medicine HIV; sexual assaults; child abuse; mental impairment; sexual violence — —
Description Background: Protection of children has been identified as a priority in South Africa. Despite a commitment to uphold children’s rights, much still needs to be done for the safety of mentally impaired children.Method: This is a record review of attendees at the Sinawe Centre from 2001 to 2005. It is the only centre in the Mthatha area that provides care for sexually assaulted persons and it is affiliated to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital. All mentally impaired victims of sexual assault were recorded on the register.Results: During the study period, 1,268 individuals, of whom 32 were profoundly mentally impaired, attended the Sinawe Centre following sexual assault. Of these mentally impaired individuals, 28 (87.5%) were below the age of 18 years. Two were males while the rest were females, giving a male to female ratio of 1:15. A close relative was implicated in 29 (90.6%) of the cases. Among the victims were six (18.7%) epileptics who were on treatment. One was 13 years old and pregnant. Four were HIV positive on screening.Conclusion: Over 2% of the sexual assault victims attending the Sinawe Centre were mentally impaired. Of these, 12.5% were HIV seropositive. —
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor None —
Date 2009-04-14
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Descriptive record review study —
Format application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v1i1.5
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 1, No 1 (2009); 3 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/5/8
 
Coverage Mthatha; South Africa 2001-2005 Age — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2009 Banwari L. Meel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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