Abstract:
South Africa is currently experiencing a huge burden of
morbidity and mortality arising from violence and injury.
In 2000, violence and unintentional injuries combined
were the second leading cause of all death and disability
adjusted life years (DALY).1 The first cause being Human
Immunodeficiency Viral (HIV) diseases.1 Interpersonal
violence is the leading risk factor after unsafe sex and for
loss of DALYs.1 According to the crime statistics report of
South Africa during the 2011/12 financial year there were
777 104 serious crimes arrests and 806 298 in 2012/13.2
There were 197 877 crimes reported against women in
2009/10 in comparison to 175 880 in 2012/13, a reduction
of 11.1%.2 However, the reviews of evidence for gender
based violence has reported that no reduction occurred in
the past decade.3 There are no reliable national data for
the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV), but the
best population based estimates from 1998 identifies a
lifetime prevalence of physical violence of 25%.
