ArticleChild abuse & neglect2024
Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences in sub-Saharan Africa: A multicountry analysis of the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS).
Article in Child abuse & neglect, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review of the global and regional estimates of the prevalence of sexual violence against children.Nature human behaviour · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of adverse childhood experiences on multimorbidity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Resilience after adversity: an umbrella review of adversity protective factors and resilience-promoting interventions.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Childhood Adversity and Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Behaviors Among African-Origin Emerging Adults in the United States: Findings From an Online Panel.Journal of community psychology · 2026Article
- Adverse childhood experiences, resilience and mental health among young people aged 16-29 years in Nepal: a population-based household survey (2025).The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Determining adverse childhood experiences and their association with substance use among young adults in universities and colleges in Mombasa County, Kenya.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2026Article
- Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences : A Cross-Sectional Study among Inpatients at Ndera Neuropsychiatric Teaching Hospital in Rwanda.Rwanda journal of medicine and health sciences · 2026Article
- Multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences and Maternal Mental Health Outcomes Among Kenyan Mothers With and Without HIV.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Association of childhood adversity and depression with cardiovascular health in youth with perinatal HIV 1 in Uganda.Discover public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Prevalence and profiles of adverse childhood experiences: a French nationwide study using the CONSTANCES cohort.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Inflammatory reactivity is unrelated to childhood adversity or provoked modulation of nociception.Pain · 2025Article
- Prevalence of sexual violence against children and age at first exposure: a global analysis by location, age, and sex (1990-2023).Lancet (London, England) · 2025Article
- The role of breastfeeding, antibiotics and antimalarial medicinal exposure in paediatric depression amongst children aged under 5: a population-based study.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Cumulative adverse childhood experiences and their association with depression and anxiety: a cross-sectional study of youth living in informal urban settings in Kenya.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Psychometric validation of the Indonesian verbal abuse questionnaire (I-VAQ) for adolescents using rasch analysis.Journal of education and health promotion · 2025Article
- Genetics, Epigenetics, and the Environment: Are Precision Medicine, Provider Compassion, and Social Justice Effective Public Health Measures to Mitigate Disease Risk and Severity?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Review
- Social protection as a strategy for HIV prevention, education promotion and child marriage reduction among adolescents: a cross-sectional population-based study in Lesotho.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Parental absence as an adverse childhood experience among young adults in sub-Saharan Africa.Child abuse & neglect · 2024Article
- Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and their associations with mental distress, substance use and sexual risk behaviors in Sub-Saharan Africa.Child abuse & neglect · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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8 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundAdverse Childhood Experiences are traumatic events early in life and have been associated with significant negative health outcomes.
objectiveTo estimate the prevalence of ACEs in five low- and middle-income sub-Saharan African countries. PARTICIPANTS AND
settingNationally representative data from the Cote d'Ivoire (2018), Kenya (2019), Lesotho (2018), Mozambique (2019), and Namibia (2019) Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) were used. Analyses were restricted to youth ages 18-24 years (n = 8766 females and 2732 males).
methodsVACS data were analyzed to generate sex-stratified weighted prevalence of individual ACEs (including sexual, physical, and emotional violence; witnessing interparental violence and violence in the community; and orphanhood) and aggregate ACEs (total ACEs; 0, 1-2, and 3 or more), for each country and combined.
resultsThe most common type of ACEs among both females and males was witnessing physical violence (males: 55.0 % [95 % CI: 51.1-58.8] and females: 37.2 % [95 % CI = 34.3-40.1]) followed by experiencing physical violence (males: 49.7 % [95 % CI = 45.5-53.9] and in females: 36.5 % [95 % CI = 33.8-39.2]). Prevalence of sexual violence was significantly higher in females than in males (16.0 % [95 % CI = 13.9-18.2] vs 8.3 % [95 % CI = 7.0-9.8]; p < 0.001). About 72 % of females and 82 % of males have experienced at least one form of ACE with 20 % of females and 24.2 % of males experiencing 3 or more ACEs.
conclusionThis study demonstrated that majority of the children in countries in sub-Saharan Africa have experienced multiple ACEs in their lifetime. Understanding the extent of the problem will help design early interventions to reduce childhood exposure to ACEs or mitigate against the harmful impact of ACEs.
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