WeeklySA_AdminSCENARIO: Infectious disease crises—from COVID-19 to Ebola—may sharply increase violence against women and girls, while the true scale of abuse remains dangerously underreported in future, according to a research…
By Monk Nkomo
Violence against women and girls may surge during infectious disease outbreaks as lockdowns, economic hardship and collapsing support systems deepen vulnerability — yet most of these cases remain unmeasured and hidden from public health data, a global study has warned.
The warning comes as South Africa continues to battle some of the highest levels of violence against women in the world, with quarterly crime statistics released by the South African Police Service repeatedly showing thousands of cases of rape, domestic violence and assault against women and children every year.
A new study published in BMJ Global Health found that infectious disease outbreaks often fuel conditions that increase violence against women and girls, yet the true scale of abuse during health crises remains largely unmeasured outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The review was led by Stark and Llana Seff, a research associate professor of public health at Washington University with co-authors from UNICEF, the University of California, Berkeley, and Fondation Botnar.
‘’Economic hardship and collapsing support systems deepen vulnerability – yet most of these cases remain unmeasured and hidden from public health data,’’ the research said.
The review focused specifically on women and girls because the forms of violence examined – including intimate partner violence, child marriage and sexual coercion – were shaped by gendered power dynamics that disproportionately affected them.
During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, reports from around the world suggested that violence against women and girls was rising during lockdowns – a pattern widely described as a ‘’ shadow pandemic’’ prompting researchers to take a closer look.
The research team screened nearly 2900 studies and analysed 112 publications examining violence against women and girls during infectious disease outbreaks in low-and- middle – income countries.
The warning comes as South Africa – where it is reported that a woman was murdered every three hours – continued to battle some of the highest levels of violence against women in the world, according to crime statistics released by the South African Police Service.
Key gender-based violence statistics released by police during July and September 2024, revealed that 957 women were murdered, 1567 survived attempted murder, 10,191 were raped and 14, 366 were victims of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The researchers identified several mechanisms that contributed to increased violence during disease outbreaks. They included:
• Economic disruption which emerged as the most consistent driver, with financial stress, frustration and shifting household roles sometimes escalating conflict and violence;
• Lockdowns confined women with abusers and cut off access to social support;
• School closures and disruptions increased risk such as child marriage, exploitation and early pregnancy;
• Perpetrators used fear of infection to control or isolate women; and
• Experiences with the health system during past outbreaks, such as Ebola, discouraged some survivors from seeking care.
Researchers noted that beyond the spread of diseases, outbreaks disrupted economies, burdened health systems and widened existing inequalities – conditions that can increase the risk of violence.
They warned that outbreaks were becoming more frequent because of climate change, rapid urbanisation and environmental disruption that increased contact between humans and animals. The review also exposed a major evidence gap: every quantitative study that met the researchers’ criteria focused only on COVID-19, despite major outbreaks such as Ebola and Zika over recent decades.
This meant the world continued to enter new outbreaks without a clear understanding of how crises affect women and girls. They also cautioned that many existing studies relied on indirect indicators such as hotline calls or clinic visits, which may significantly underestimate the true scale of abuse.
The researchers called for integrating the monitoring of violence against women and girls into outbreak surveillance systems – including brief questions embedded in existing data collection – and for policy makers to assess risks when designing containment strategies.
‘’ Violence against women and girls should be monitored with the same urgency as disease transmission. Preventing violence against women and girls should be a core component,’’ researchers said.
