ArticlePloS one2021
'I will rather be killed by corona than by him…': Experiences of abused women seeking shelter during South Africa's COVID-19 lockdown.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of infectious disease outbreaks and violence against women and girls: changes in magnitude, mechanisms and lessons for the future.BMJ global health · 2026Pooled it
- Stay-at-Home: The Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Household Functioning and ART Adherence for People Living with HIV in Three Sub-districts of Cape Town, South Africa.AIDS and behavior · 2022Trial
- Article
- Exploring the Impact of the 2020 COVID-19 Adjusted Lockdown on Social Workers at a Gender-Based Violence Command Centre in Pretoria, Gauteng.Public health challenges · 2025Article
- Mixed-method longitudinal investigation of sexual and gender-based violence following COVID-19 in South Africa.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- The Global Landscape of Domestic Violence against Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review.Korean journal of family medicine · 2024Article
- The Intersections of COVID-19 Global Health Governance and Population Health Priorities: Equity-Related Lessons Learned From Canada and Selected G20 Countries.Public health reviews · 2024Article
- The socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on families affected by childhood respiratory illnesses in Cape Town, South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Gender-based violence and femicide interventions-perspectives from community members and activists in South Africa.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Article
- COVID-19-related global health governance and population health priorities for health equity in G20 countries: a scoping review.International journal for equity in health · 2023Article
- Ethical reporting of research on violence against women and children: a review of current practice and recommendations for future guidelines.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Access to information on gender-based violence prevention during COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda: a cross-sectional study.EClinicalMedicine · 2023Article
- Factors Associated with COVID-19-Related Stress among Female Primary Caregivers in Vulnerable Families in South Africa.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2023Article
- "COVID gave him an opportunity to tighten the reins around my throat": perceptions of COVID-19 movement restrictions among survivors of intimate partner violence.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Vulnerability to violence against women or girls during COVID-19 in Uganda.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Article
- The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic and Social Determinants of Health on the Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence. A Systematic Review.Materia socio-medica · 2023Article
- The Trinidad and Tobago Covid-19 Domestic Violence Victimization and Perpetration Study.Journal of family violence · 2022Review
- Impact of SARS-CoV-2 lockdown on expansion of HIV transmission clusters among key populations: A retrospective phylogenetic analysis.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn April 2020, the United Nations predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic will have a 'calamitous' impact on the lives of women. This was based on concerns about an upsurge in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) arising from increased opportunities for relational conflict due to forced co-existence and therefore additional time spent with abusive partners.
aimResearch has shown an increase in IPV during times of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated unprecedented circumstances and stress, and opportunities to do research to understand whether the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on IPV experiences were limited. Thus, the present study aimed to understand women's experiences of being in and leaving an abusive relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsIndividual, telephonic interviews were conducted with 16 women living in domestic violence shelters within three Provinces during South Africa's lockdown period.
resultsFindings reveal that the public health measures implemented by the South African Government to curb the spread of the virus, may have placed vulnerable groups at increased risk of violence. Specifically, lockdown likely magnified the risk for escalation of abuse in families already experiencing IPV prior to COVID-19. The study highlights an IPV and COVID-19 relationship, showing that the gender insensitive pandemic control measures, such as stay at home orders and travel restrictions, likely placed women at risk of increased abuse. Given the recurrency of COVID-19 epidemic waves, attention must be given to gender disparities or many South African women may experience worse outcomes.
conclusionThis study reminds us that being ordered to stay at home is not always the safest option for women and thus, in a country with one of the highest levels of GBV, it becomes imperative to ensure that IPV safeguards are integrated into COVID-19 measures. It also becomes evident that COVID-19 requires enhanced ways of responding by paying attention to gender disparities.
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