Breaking the Cycle: Women's Perceptions of the Causes of Violence and Crime in Informal Settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, and Their Strategies for Response and Prevention

Sanitation-related violence against women in informal settlements in Kenya: a quantitative analysis

Introduction

Approximately 3.6 billion people around the world do not have access to safe sanitation options. Those lacking access are not only at risk of diarrheal disease, other tropical diseases, and parasitic infections, they are at greater risk of experiencing violence, particularly women and girls. The burden of lack of access to safe sanitation is disproportionately experienced by women in informal settlements in lower- and middle-income countries, where violence rates tend to be higher and access to sanitation lower. Women lacking access to safe toilets often have to walk long distances to access a facility or open site or use shared toilet facilities, which increase their vulnerability to violence.

Methods

We explore the prevalence and multilevel factors associated with women's experiences, observations, and exposure to stories about past-year sanitation-related violence in a probability sample of 550 women in a large informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya using chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regressions.

Results

Findings suggest that social/community engagement and social/cultural beliefs are important considerations for hearing about and observing sanitation-related violence, but less so experiences of sanitation-related violence. Alternatively, individual-level and technological factors may be critical factors in actual experiences of violence.

Discussion

Sanitation-related violence and creating an environment of safety in which women can take care of their sanitation-related needs in ways that also protect them, their families, and their communities is critical for meeting sanitation-related development agendas and goals such as Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030.

Exploring Non-partner Violence in Informal Settlements in Nairobi, Kenya

Violence against women is a serious public health and human rights concern and can take many forms. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the subject of the majority of research focused on violence against women around the world; yet the health consequences of non-partner violence (NPV) can be just as serious. There is a critical gap in literature focused on NPV and the co-occurrence of NPV and IPV in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in informal settlements. The unique historical, political, social, geo-spatial, physical, and built environment in informal settlements-often characterized as places with high rates of crime and violence-may be important in understanding NPV and co-occurrence of NPV and IPV in these communities, but more research is needed. The purpose of this study was to explore NPV in a large informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya including its relationship to IPV, correlates, and common perpetrators of NPV in this setting. Data from 552 household-level surveys collected from women in a large informal settlement in Nairobi in 2018 were used in this study. Descriptive statistics and penalized maximum likelihood logistic regressions were used to examine the association between IPV and NPV, correlates, and perpetrators of NPV. Findings showed a strong, positive association between past-year IPV and NPV-highlighting a critical area for future study in IPV, NPV, and poly-victimization research. Results corroborated some findings from existing NPV research, but yielded important new information about correlates and perpetrators of NPV in informal settlements. NPV and poly-victimization have serious health consequences for women in any context, but women in informal settlements also face a number of structural economic, social, political, and environmental challenges that affect their health and wellbeing and may exacerbate the health consequences of violence perpetrated against them. Thus, more research into NPV and poly-victimization in informal settlements is critical.