Sexual abuse and unwanted pregnancies amongst women and girls in Malawi during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Violence against women and girls increased during the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe. This study investigates the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to sexual abuse towards women and girls in Malawi and explores if there was an association between reported cases of sexual abuse (rape and defilement) and the number of women and girls accessing post-abortion care services across Malawi’s four administrative regions: Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southern.

Methods: The study employed an explanatory mixed-methods approach. Administrative data from 2018 to 2021 on reported cases of rape and defilement obtained from the Malawi Police and on the number of women that accessed post-abortion care services from Malawi Public Health facilities was analysed. This was followed by key informant interviews (KIIs) with regional child protection officers and district-level health personnel. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis were conducted for the quantitative data, and a thematic analysis was performed for the qualitative data.

Results: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, school closures were followed by an increased number of reported cases of defilement. Reported cases of rape and defilement increased across all regions except for the Northern region, where a decline was registered. Access to post-abortion care services declined in the Northern and Central regions while slight increases were registered in the Southern and Eastern regions. No association was established between the percentage change in reported cases of defilements and the percentage change in the number of women and girls accessing post-abortion care for the period before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions: Periods of adversity worsen child sexual abuse and lead to a lot of unwanted/unplanned pregnancies and unwanted children. To deal with teenage pregnancies, girls dropping out of school, and poor childbirth outcomes, in addition to programmes that address child marriage and early sexual initiation practices, more interventions should also be directed towards tackling child sexual abuse within the home.