Adolescents as our future and the pattern of violence against women and girls: experiences of the rivers state observatory

Background: Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a growing global health concern and the culture of silence creates a negative impact on incident reporting. The Rivers State Observatory on VAWG coordinated by the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria, Rivers State branch was set up by the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Program to manage a virtual safe space and gather information about VAWG, its trends, prevalence and the response by state and non-state actors. Objective: This manuscript presents the findings of an intervention on VAWG to determine the pattern of VAWG reported to the Rivers State Observatory in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Design: The Rivers State Observatory on VAWG established and managed a virtual safe space to conduct a prospective study of VAWG from 2015 to 2017. A standardised Incident Reporting Form was used to collect information from survivors of violence. Results: Of 621 reported incidences, domestic violence (33.5%), child abuse (31.2%), other human rights violations (13.7%) and sexual violence (13%) were the most common. One-third of the survivors were children (33.8%), with 55% belonging to 11-17years age group and 13.2% belonging to the under-five age group. One-third of the survivors (33%) suffered repeated/chronic violence and 116 (19%) were victims of gang attacks. Conclusion: Adolescents suffer violence and repeated attacks are rift. There is urgent need to broaden the campaign against VAWG and strengthen interventions to prevent VAWG.