The health and economic costs of violence against women and girls on survivors, their families and communities in Ghana
Date
2019-10-08Author
Alvarado Merino, Gina
Scriver, Stacey
Mueller, Jennifer L.
O’Brien-Milne, Lila
Fenny, Ama P.
Duvvury, Nata
Metadata
Show full item recordUsage
This item's downloads: 43 (view details)
Recommended Citation
Alvarado Merino, Gina, Scriver, Stacey, Mueller, Jennifer L., O’Brien-Milne, Lila, Fenny, Ama P., & Duvvury, Nata. (2019). The health and economic costs of violence against women and girls on survivors, their families and communities in Ghana. In E.E. Anugwom & N. Awofeso (Eds.), Public Health in Developing Countries - Challenges and Opportunities. London: IntechOpen.
Published Version
Abstract
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a worldwide phenomenon. Globally, 35% of women have experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) or non-partner sexual violence in their lives. VAWG is estimated to cost the global economy about US$ eight trillion. Most studies on violence in Ghana discuss domestic violence or some forms of sexual violence but lack a comprehensive view of VAWG and its costs and impacts on communities, businesses, and the national economy. Our international consortium undertook a mixed-methods study to estimate the economic and non-economic losses caused by VAWG. We surveyed 2002 women and 805 male and female employees and conducted 24 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and 8 focus group discussions (FGDs). The study finds that costs of VAWG are high and multi-fold. It estimates costs to health, social relationships, and productivity for individuals, their families, and communities. Individual well-being and capabilities are impacted through absenteeism or missed care work and mental health issues. VAWG deepens household poverty by out-of-pocket expenditures that arise to address medical and legal issues that result from violence. Additionally, VAWG affects the vibrancy of communities as women’s participation and leadership decline. These costs accumulate to have profound effects on the Ghanaian economy and society.
This item is available under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland. No item may be reproduced for commercial purposes. Please refer to the publisher's URL where this is made available, or to notes contained in the item itself. Other terms may apply.
The following license files are associated with this item:
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Heterogeneity of existing research relating to sexual violence, sexual assault and rape precludes meta-analysis of injury data
Kennedy, Kieran M. (Elsevier BV, 2013-07-01) -
Child to parent violence - an exploration of non-violent resistance
Coogan, Declan (2016-05-06)Until relatively recently, there has been very limited research on the aggressive and violent behaviour of children and adolescents who abuse their parents at home. This form of family violence has been poorly understood ... -
Practical Strategies for Coping with Child-to-Parent Violence: The Non Violent Resistance Programme in Practice
Lauster, Eileen; Coogan, Declan (The Probation Service, 2014-10)Child to parent violence (CPV) is an emerging problem that is coming more frequently to the attention of practitioners in a wide variety of settings. This paper describes the ways in which the Probation Service and Le ...