In GBV endemic area, Panic Button project necessitates enabling environment.
CAPE TOWN, 23 OCTOBER 2024: In uMgungundlovu, 87 gender-based violence (GBV) cases were reported across 40 schools in 5 months (May – September 2022). The finding was highlighted in a Panic Button project to pilot if GBV case finding would improve when reported by Learner Support Agents (LSAs), equipped with a panic button. Between July and September 2023, reported crime statistics positioned uMgungundlovu (1 689 GBV cases reported) as the district with the second-highest rate of GBV in KwaZulu-Natal after eThekwini (5 117 GBV cases reported). Given the endemic nature of GBV in the area, the number of cases is lower than expected.
“The perpetrators of gender-based violence rob our adolescent girls and young women of their potential to live healthy and complete lives,” said Jennifer Mcloughlin, Programme Director: Prevention in Priority Populations, TB HIV Care.
The Project found that panic buttons can enhance the identification of GBV cases. However, delays in reporting often hinder these efforts, as victims experience shame, guilt, and fear, shaped by cultural norms surrounding how GBV is handled within the family. While LSAs were well-positioned to support learners, the project found that some schools were reluctant to participate, highlighting the need for continued education to secure buy-in for such an intervention.
The Sixth South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey (SABSSM1 VI) found a difference in HIV prevalence among younger male and female populations.
Compared to males, HIV prevalence was approximately 2-fold higher in females aged 15–19 (5.7% vs. 3.1%), and 20–24 years (8.0% vs. 4.0%), and 3-fold higher in females aged 25–29 years (19.5% vs 6.3%). This underscores the growing feminization of the HIV epidemic2. This group is particularly vulnerable to both HIV and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), often due to factors like poverty, economic instability, and limited sexual autonomy. The devastating impact of HIV is driven by factors such as multiple sexual partners, age-disparate relationships, inconsistent contraceptive use, and stigma. Additionally, SGBV is a significant risk factor for HIV, as women can be exposed to infection through coerced sex, intimate-partner violence, and rape, often without the use of protection1.
“The intersectionality of SGBV and HIV risks for young women in South Africa clearly illustrates the need for integrating prevention measures and responses into HIV programming. It is encouraging to see how projects, such as this one, is demonstrating progress in this regard. Meaningful integration and full-scale impact require active participation from all sectors across the country, however, and most importantly solidarity and healthy choices from all men living in South Africa,” said Laurene Booyens M.D., Chief Programme Officer, TB HIV Care.
To address GBV, community involvement, education, and awareness are crucial for breaking negative patterns and can help identify issues such as disengagement, academic decline, absenteeism, dropout, behavioural problems, suicidal thoughts, and drug abuse. “An enabling environment equipped with a reliable rapid response system could encourage more adolescent girls and young women to report incidents of GBV and access support,” said Prof Harry Hausler, Chief Executive Officer, TB HIV Care.
The GBV Panic Button project findings and conclusions will be shared by TB HIV Care in Cape Town at the SVRI Forum 2024 – the world’s key research conference on violence against women, violence against children, and other forms of violence, taking place from 21 – 25 October 2024 at the Cape Town International Conference Centre. The GBV Panic Button project is an innovative approach implemented under the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) partnership, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in South Africa.
In text reference
1 – Muller A, et al. (2020). Sexual and gender-based violence and HIV in South Africa: An HIV facility-based study. South African Medical Journal. Vol. 110 n.5. Pretoria.
2 – Human Sciences Research Council. (2022). The Sixth South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey. South Africa
Issued by:
Aziel Gangerdine
TB HIV Care, Communications Manager
E-mail: aziel@tbhivcare.org
Cell: +27 (0) 66 545 6053
ENDS.
TB HIV Care
TB HIV Care is a registered non-profit company (NPC) that puts integrated care at the heart of responding to TB, HIV, and other major diseases. We work to prevent, find and treat TB and HIV in South Africa as well as targeting our interventions to address the needs of populations most at risk, including communities in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, adolescent girls and young women in KwaZulu-Natal, inmates in correctional centres, sex workers and people who inject drugs.
