The geography of femicide in Sergipe, Brazil: matriarchy, human development, and income distribution

Spatial modeling of homicide mortality in the Northeast region of Brazil

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the spatiotemporal distribution of homicide mortality and association with social determinants of health in the Northeast Region of Brazil.

METHODS

Ecological study with spatiotemporal modeling of homicide deaths between 2000 and 2019. Temporal trends were analyzed by segmented linear regression. Crude mortality was calculated and adjusted by smoothing the local empirical Bayesian method and analyzed by the Global/Local Moran Index and spatiotemporal scan statistics. The association between social determinants of health and homicide mortality was performed using multiple linear regression and autoregressive spatial models.

RESULTS

353,089 deaths were recorded. Mortality increased from 2000 to 2019, with an annual increase of 4.37 in males and 3.57 in females. High risk spatial and spatiotemporal clusters were identified in the coastal region of the states. The spatial regression model showed an association with socioeconomic inequalities.

CONCLUSIONS

High risk areas for homicides associated with socioeconomic inequality, which should be considered as a priority for designing and investing in public health policies were investigated.

Femicide and Attempted Femicide before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile

Experts and international organizations hypothesize that the number of cases of fatal intimate partner violence against women increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily due to social distancing strategies and the implementation of lockdowns to reduce the spread of the virus. We described cases of attempted femicide and femicide in Chile before (January 2014 to February 2020) and during (March 2020 to June 2021) the pandemic. The attempted-femicide rate increased during the pandemic (incidence rate ratio: 1.22 [95% confidence interval: 1.04 to 1.43], p value: 0.016), while the rate of femicide cases remained unchanged. When a comparison between attempted-femicide and femicide cases was performed, being a foreigner, having an intimate partner relationship with a perpetrator aged 40 years or more, and the use of firearms during the assault were identified as factors associated independently with a higher probability of being a fatal victim in Chile. In conclusion, this study emphasizes that attempted femicide and femicide continued to occur frequently in family contexts both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.