Recently we congratulated the South Sudan Medical Journal for publishing a Paper of Gender based Violence. We added that it is an unmanaged silent epidemic in LLMICs. Below we share a Report of the Federal Government of Nigeria to fight the scourge:
Read ON
‘FG says Nigeria records 27,698 cases of SGBV in six states
By Agency
The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, said 27,698 cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence were recorded in six states between 2020-2023.
Kennedy-Ohanenye disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday, in commemoration of this year’s global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the global observance, which runs from Nov. 25 (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) until Dec. 10 (Human Rights Day), is a key international moment to call for an end to violence against women and girls.
The celebration has “UNITE! Invest to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls” as the theme for 2023.
The minister, therefore, called for nationwide implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act, saying it would help in reducing SGBV cases.
She added that “statistics from the GBV Data Situation room estimates that 35 per cent of women, with one in every three Nigerian females experience violence at some point in their lives, mostly by an intimate partner.
“In the last one year, Nigeria, under the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative programme being implemented in six states (Adamawa, Lagos, Sokoto, Cross River, Ebonyi and the FCT, recorded 27,698 cases of SGBV between 2020 and 2023.
“In the recorded cases, there were 1,145 fatal GBV cases; with 393 perpetrators convicted; 9,636 as open cases; 3,432 new cases; 1,741 as closed cases and 1,895 follow-up cases, among others, within the period under review.
“It is commendable that the states have adopted the VAPP Act, but governments at that level must ensure full implementation of the Act to protect women and children from all forms of violence.
“This year’s theme in particular calls for accountability and improved investment in girl-child education, ICT, women socio-economic advancement and empowerment, investment in ending all forms of violence.
“Investments must be made to end violence, especially rape, sexual abuse, battery, molestation, harmful traditional practices such as Female Genital Mutilation, widowhood rites and disinheritance, among others.
“If current trends continue, more than 340 million women and girls will live in extreme poverty by 2030, and one in four will experience moderate or severe food insecurity.
“Growing vulnerability brought by human-induced climate change is likely to worsen this outlook, as many as 236 million more women and girls will be food-insecure, under a worst-case climate scenario.”
The minister also said that halfway to the end point of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, the world is failing to achieve gender equality, thus making it an increasingly distant goal.
“There is no hiding place for all violators of our girls and women, as we consider this important theme for this year’s commemoration.
“I want us all to ponder on the level and kind of investment that over the years have accrued to women and girls and for our institutions, MDAs, development partners and bilateral, multilateral and indeed the private sector,” she added.
Also, Matthias Schmale, United Nations Resident Humanitarian Coordinator, called for more empowerment of women and girls, as well as protection through the VAPP Act and increased budgetary allocation.
He said the UN Unite Campaign works in solidarity with relevant governments, development partners, Civil Society Organisations, women groups, the private sector and the media to call for an end to violence against women.
He said “we are estimating that globally, a staggering 736 million women, that is one in three women around the globe have suffered sexual and or physical intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence or both at least once in their lives.
“Violence negatively affects women’s physical mental health and wellbeing at all stages of their lives and the impact on national development.
“Unfortunately, violence against girls and women remains one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world.”
Schmale said many countries have passed laws to combat violence against women and girls “but weak enforcement and discriminatory social norms remain the problems.” (
NAN)’
Source: FG says Nigeria records 27,698 cases of SGBV in six states - Healthwise (punchng.com)
https://healthwise.punchng.com/fg-says-nigeria-records-27698-cases-of-sg...
Joseph Ana
Prof Joseph Ana
Lead Senior Fellow/ medical consultant.
Center for Clinical Governance Research &
Patient Safety (ACCGR&PS) @ HRI GLOBAL
P: +234 (0) 8063600642
E: info@hri-global.org
8 Amaku Street, State Housing, Calabar, Nigeria.
www.hri-global.org
HIFA Profile: Joseph Ana is the Lead Senior Fellow/Medical Consultant at the Centre for Clinical Governance Research and Patient Safety (CCGR&PS) with Headquarters in Calabar, Nigeria, established by HRI Global (former HRIWA). He is the Country Coordinator for PACK Nigeria (Practical Approach to Care Kit) which is specifically designed to improve clinical competence (improving accuracy of diagnosis and treatment) in primary health care. He is also a Member of the World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Care in primary, emergency, operative, and critical care (TAG-IC2). As the Cross River State Commissioner for Health (2004-2008), Joseph Ana led the introduction of the evidence based, homegrown quality tool, the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance Programme (12-PCGP) in Nigeria, which also suitable for lower-, low-, and middle income countries (LLMIC) with similar weak health sector and system. To ensure sustainability of 12-PCGP, the ‘Department of Clinical Governance, Servicom & e-health’ was established in Cross River State Ministry of Health in 2007. His main interest is in ‘Whole health sector and system strengthening in LLMICs’. He has written six books on the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance Programme, including the TOOLS manual for its Implementation, currently in its 2nd Edition. He served as Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association’s Standing Committee on Clinical Governance (2012-2022), and he won the Association’s ‘Award of Excellence’ on three consecutive occasions for the innovation of 12-PCGP in Nigeria. He served as Chairman, Quality & Performance subcommittee of the Technical Working Group for the implementation of the Nigeria Health Act 2014. He was Member, National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee (NTISC) of the Federal Ministry of Health, 2017-2022. He is the pioneer Secretary General/Trustee-Director of the Charity, NMF (Nigerian Medical Forum UK) which took the BMJ to West Africa in 1995. Joseph is a member of the HIFA Steering Group; the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers, and the Working Group on HIFA-WHO Collaboration (http://www.hifa.org/support/members/joseph-0 http://www.hifa.org/people/steering-group). Email: info AT hri-global.org and jneana AT yahoo.co.uk
