Barriers to Screening Pregnant Women for Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is detrimental to the physical, emotional, sexual, social, and mental wellbeing apart from being a violation of human right. In pregnancy, it is directly associated with negative effects to both the mother and the newborn to include maternal and newborn deaths. Globally, the prevalence of IPV among women is 35% and in Kenya it is 49%. It was estimated to be 13.5% among pregnant women in Kenya. Despite the adverse outcome of IPV in pregnancy, screening during pregnancy lags behind. Screening for IPV in carefully selected venues within public health facilities where the majority of Kenyan women seek maternal health services, has the potential to improve health outcomes for women and their newborn. To address this gap, this book seeks to present barriers associated with screening for IPV in pregnancy. This work is beneficial to policy makers in health ministries and clinicians who take care of survivors of IPV.