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International Journal of
Population Studies Physical sexual violence in Sub-Saharan Africa

of the age groups (Chinawa et al., 2020; International (targeting parents, workers, teachers, and students) should
Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC], 2023). be prioritized by various governments in conjunction with
A major implication of IPSV is that the marriage or other public health stakeholders towards improving sexual
sexual partnership that is expected to be protected for and reproductive health and well-being of both current
both parties could result in ill health and an increase risk and future generations.
of compromising sexual health where violence is involved. Acknowledgments
While there may not be conspicuous law against marital
rape (fondly called domestic violence), perhaps due to The authors acknowledge the support and resources of
the Sub-Saharan African cultural permissiveness of men Covenant University Centre for Research, Innovation,
rights for sexual entitlement in a marriage, the ordeals and Discovery (CUCRID) in carrying out this study. The
inherent in the act should warrant official decision on the authors also extend their appreciation to authors whose
activity. Thus, it is imperative that everyone, especially the studies were systematically analyzed in this paper.
young girls and women be empowered with the relevant Funding
information that could build their capacity, not only to
resist, but to overcome baits of sexual violence or other None.
sexual rights violating tools.
Conflict of interest
While the study focused on the encompassing or
multicomponent sexual violence, that is seemingly tilted The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
toward traditional sexual violence, it disregarded the Author contributions
digital or electronically (web) acts of sexual violence,
whose development is spurred on by internet-of-a-thing Conceptualization: Emmanuel O. Amoo
(INT). This omission could be regarded as a limitation Data curation: Joy O. Nwosu, Fred Nwogu, Christian P.
for this analysis. These digital activities could appear in Washington, Henry O. Chukwu, Mercy E. Adebayo
the form of pornographic posting, non-consented sexual
pictures sharing, non-consensual sexting, or other form of Formal analysis: Emmanuel O. Amoo, Amos A. Olore
cyber sexual bullying (Basile et al., 2011; National Center Methodology: Emmanuel O. Amoo
for Injury Prevention and Control & Division of Violence Writing – original draft: Emmanuel O. Amoo
Prevention, 2022). It is hoped that further study could
combine or investigate the forms and types of digital sexual Writing – review & editing: Emmanuel O. Amoo, Mercy E.
violence for comprehensive prevention. Adebayo, Amos A. Olore, Tayo O. George
5. Conclusions Ethics approval and consent to participate

The current systematic review revealed that sexual Not applicable.
violence in the forms of rape, IPSV, harassment, workplace
sexual violence, and incest are prevailing in the locations Consent for publication
under study, irrespective of age, gender, social class, or Not applicable.
community of the victims. The prevalence established
in the extant literature reviewed supports that sexual Availability of data
violence is hyper-endemic in the locations of study, The dataset used and analyzed for this study is available
and by extension, the Sub-Saharan Africa in general. from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Information from the review identified girls and women
as potential victims while men/boys are the malefactors References
or potential violators of other women’s/girls’ rights, Adabembe, K.O. (2022). Prevalence of rape in Ekiti State Nigeria:
through rape, harassment, and IPV. The authors therefore Expectations from the Church. Global Journal of Arts,
recommend that since the males are predominantly the Humanities and Social Sciences, 10(9):10-19.
actual or suspected perpetrators of sexual violence, an
enlightenment campaign should be implemented for https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol10n91019
boys and men to make them acquainted with the sexual Adinew, Y.M., & Hagos, M.A. (2017). Sexual violence against
rights of females, so that they would control their conduct, female university students in Ethiopia. BMC International
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legislation and community enlightenment campaign https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-017-0127-1

Volume 10 Issue 3 (2024) 55 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0621