Abstract

Sexual violence occurs throughout the whole world with about 35.6% women have experienced intimate partner
violence and/ or non-partner sexual violence especially those in low-income countries. This study determined the
prevalence and forms of sexual violence among women seeking HIV services at Kyabugimbi health center in
Bushenyi district, Western Uganda. This was a cross-sectional study among 96 HIV positive women at Kyabugimbi
health center Bushenyi district, Western Uganda. I used a researcher administered questionnaire to collect data on
sociodemographic characteristics, burden and forms of sexual violence, services sought by the victims and sexual
violence screening by health workers. Data were analyzed with Chi square and logistic regression using SPSS
version 20 at 95% level of significance. A total of 96 women participated in the study with a mean age of 35.05 ±
12.212 years and majority had primary level of education. The prevalence of sexual violence among the study
participants was 31.3% (30/96). The most common forms of sexual violence were forced genital touching and sexual
humiliation. Husbands of the victims were the most common perpetrators, less than a quarter of the victims of sexual
violence disclosed the incidents and only 1*5% of the victims sought medical help. The common medical help sought
included post-exposure prophylaxis (4.9%), HIV test (9.3%) and emergency contraception (5.6%). Being married (p
= 0.035, 95%CI 0.069-0.905) was protective against sexual violence. A third of HIV women seeking care from
Kyabugimbi health center in Bushenyi district experience sexual violence, more than three quarters of the victims
do not disclose the incidents to other people and very few seek medical help. The most common forms of sexual
violence include forced genital touching, sexual humiliation and insertion of an object into genitalia.