Home Violence in South Africa

Abstract

Surveillance during 1996 by SASPREN, a Sentinel Network of general/family practitioners* Objectives: To esimate and monitor the incidence of home violence in South Africa at primary care level, duing 1996. Design: Continuous surveillance and notification of new events of home violence, through a postal system. Setting: One hundred and twenty general/family practitioners throughout South Africa, with an average of 60 responding per week. Mainly 87% private sector, 53% city and 47% town-based. Subjects: Mainly self-paying patients visiting these general/family practitioners at the surgery , but 28% of practitioners held public service (district surgeon) appointments. Outcome measures: The number of new events of home violence reported per 1000 consultations, classified by gender, age group and population group. Results: During 49 6771 consultations. 2364 new events (0,5%) of home violence were reported, yielding a national notiication rate of 4,76/1000 consultations for 1996. Large variation was noted between the provinces, with the Eastern Cape (11,09/100 cons) the highest. Women were twice as likely to be a victim as men were, with women in the age group 25-44 yielding the highest number of cases. The rate of the rural settings w as twice as high as the rate in the city/large towns. The warmer months had an above average rate and the colder months a below average rate. Conclusions: Although very likely under-reported, home violence constitutes at least 0,5% of a family practitioner's workload. The trends reported in this study warrant further research on the risk factors in order to design and implement prevention strategies. Further surveillance of home violence is warranted.