Determinants of Intimate Partner Violence Prevalence Against Mothers With Under-5 Children in Namibia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Given the escalating incidence of sexual and gender based violence events been reported these days in the world, including Namibia where a week hardly passes by without an IPV case being reported in the local media, continual researches into IPV as well as its attributing factors needs to be carried out in order to have a fully developed and functioning strategies in place to combat and reduce IPV incidence in the country, especially among women and mothers. The purpose of this study was to perform an empirical investigation to the extent and determinants of IPV prevalence among women, especially mothers with under-5 children in Namibia, using a cross-sectional quantitative study design of the 2013 NDHS and a multivariable logit model. Results from this study reveals that socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics such as mother’s age, husband/partner drinks alcohol, husband’s/partner’s education level, husband’s/partner’s age, decision maker and earning more than husband/partner had higher odds of IPV prevalence, while characteristics such as mother’s current marital status, afraid of husband/partner, child’s age, region and currently breastfeeding had lower odds. This study highlights the need to implement prevention and intervention programs that aim at encouraging economic empowerment of mothers with under-5 children as a form of protective shield of IPV prevalence by the Namibian government as well as organizations centered on women’s rights, advocacies and development. These preventative measures should begin at an early age, while both prevention and intervention programs should specifically target the high risk ages of 30 to 49 as IPV emerges in dating couples.