Speakers
Description
Evidence shows that the covid-19 pandemic contributed to increased domestic violence globally. Much of the literature, however, attribute the observed increased in violence to isolation and quarantine orders. In this study, we expand the narrative by investigating the connections between covid-19 induced changes in income and intimate partner violence (IPV) in Guinea. To achieve this, we conducted logistic regression analysis using a sample of 1789 adults who participated in a cross-sectional study on the economic and health impacts of the pandemic in Guinea.
The results show that individuals who lost all their income or whose income reduced due to the pandemic were significantly more likely to report experiencing IPV compared to their counterparts with stable income. Respondents who were in polygamous or monogamous marriages were significantly more likely to report experiences of IPV compared to the never married. Geographically, residents of rural locations were more likely to report IPV due to covid-19 induced lost of income but compared to respondents from Conakry, those from other regions were less likely to report IPV. When the analysis was stratified by gender, both men and women were more likely to report IPV if they lost part or all of their income. Further, there was no significant difference between men irrespective of their marital status but women in monogamous marriage were likely to report IPV. These findings call for support for victims of IPV and importantly, provides policy directions for informing policy programs on future pandemics that may impact family’s income.
