Violence against children after disasters caused by natural hazards
Citation: Cerna-Turoff I, Fischer HT, Mayhew S, et al. Violence against children and natural disasters: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative evidence. PLoS ONE. 2019;14(5):e0217719.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: The authors reported that they had no external funding for this review.
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for articles that focused on exposure to disasters caused by natural hazards and physical, emotional, and sexual violence against children under the age of 18 years. They restricted their searches to articles published in English, but not by publication type or date. They searched in May 2018 and found 11 studies based in Bangladesh (1), Haiti (1), Sri Lanka (2), and the USA (7).
What was found: No consistent association or directional influence was found between disasters caused by natural hazards and violence against children. Combined violence outcomes showed substantial heterogeneity, indicating inconsistent results.
Implications: The authors of the review stated violence against children is high and widespread, even in the absence of disasters caused by natural hazards. Therefore, it is important to identify factors that protect children from violence after disasters caused by natural hazards, such as social support, family functioning, community cohesion, and religious coping style.
Other considerations: The authors of the review did not discuss their findings in the context of issues relating to health equity.
This summary was prepared by Riwa Deghaim, checked by Sneha Bhadti, and finalized by William Summerskill.