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Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global public health crisis associated with adverse physical, psychological, economic, and social consequences. Studies on the impact of COVID-19 on IPV against women are scarce. This study aimed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on IPV against women. Google Scholar, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library were searched using the MeSH terms intimate partner violence, COVID-19, and women. Exclusion criteria were male-partner, elder, and child abuse and studies that targeted specific groups such as cancer, HIV, and substance abuse. Two independent reviewers completed the title, abstract screening, and review of selected articles. Thirteen out of 647 articles met the inclusion criteria. IPV against women increased in nine countries (Spain, United States, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Turkey, Peru, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo); one country showed no change in gender-based violence among adolescent girls and young women (Kenya); and one study reported a decrease in IPV reporting by victims (United States). Policies made to mitigate the pandemic created unintended consequences that exacerbated risk factors for IPV against women. Lessons learned from COVID-19 must be used to develop policy-level support and response services to mitigate IPV against women amid a pandemic and other human crises.

Background: Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are common birth defects with significant impact on morbidity and mortality. We aimed to compare regional patterns of CHDs in Nigeria using a registry-based approach.Methods: Children with echocardiography-confirmed CHDs at 17 medical centers across the country were enrolled in a pilot National Pediatric Cardiac Registry from January to December 2014.Results: A total of 1,296 children (52.9% male; median age 0.9 years) with CHDs were enrolled. Patients enrolled in Northern Nigeria constituted 34.6% of the study population and were older compared to those enrolled from Southern Nigeria (2.9 ± 3.6 vs 2.4 ± 3.5 years; P= .02). Ventricular septal defects were significantly more prevalent in the North (37.4%) compared with the South (18.5%; P< .0001), while severe CHDs were more prevalent in the South (P= .004). Of the 208 (16.0%) children who received corrective cardiac intervention, only 43 (20.7%) of them had the intervention done in country. More patients in the South received intervention compared to the North (19.02% vs 10.5%; P< .0001).Conclusion: This is the first prospective, registry-based, multicenter study of CHDs in Nigerian children. We demonstrate important differences between the Northern and the Southern geographical regions of the country in terms of age at diagnosis, type, and severity of lesion as well as access to cardiac surgery. The findings demonstrate the utility of a national CHDs registry for understanding clinical epidemiology of CHDs in low- and middle-income countries and its potential to serve as a basis for research and planning.