• Heather F McClintock, Sarah E Edmonds, and Alexis R Lambert.
• Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA.
• Afr Health Sci. 2023 Mar 1; 23 (1): 276285276-285.

PurposeIntimate partner violence (IPV) and child loss disproportionately affect women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Little research has examined the relationship between IPV and child loss in SSA.MethodsWe used data from Demographic Health Surveys in 7 countries in SSA (Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Zambia, and Rwanda). Women's Health Module questions assessed lifetime physical, sexual, and emotional IPV. Child loss was calculated as the difference between the number of child births and the number of living children. Logistic regression was conducted adjusting for age, marital status, educational attainment, location of residence, wealth, sexually transmitted infections, and country of origin. Data were weighted and analysed using STATA Software (14.0).ResultsAmong women who gave birth, approximately one third (31.7%) reported that they lost 1 or more children. Nearly half (44.3%) reported that they experienced physical IPV during their lifetime. Women who had experienced physical, emotional, or sexual IPV were significantly more likely to report a loss of 1 or more children (OR=1.20, 95% confidence interval (CI)= [1.08, 1.33]; OR=1.30, 95% CI= [1.16, 1.45]; OR=1.42, 95% CI= [1.23, 1.65], respectively) in comparison with women who had not experienced IPV controlling for potentially influential covariates. Women who were older, married, had lower educational attainment, and had lower income were more likely to have lost 1 or more children.ConclusionThese results suggest that women who experienced all types of and cumulative exposure to IPV may be more likely to lose a child in SSA.© 2023 McClintock HF et al.

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