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Intimate partner violence (IPV) is known to have negative health consequences for victims. For women living with HIV/AIDS, whose health may be compromised, exposure to IPV can be devastating. Yet few (if any) studies have explored the health implications of exposure to IPV among HIV-positive women. We begin to fill this gap by examining the effects of various dimensions of IPV (physical, sexual, psychological/emotional, and economic) on the cardiovascular, psychosocial, and sexual reproductive health outcomes of HIV-positive women in Ghana. Data were collected from a cross-section of 538 HIV-positive women aged 18 years and older in the Lower Manya Krobo District in the Eastern Region. We used logit models to explore relationships between IPV and health. The findings indicate high prevalence of IPV in our sample: physical violence (61%), sexual violence (50.9%), emotional/psychological violence (79.6%), and economic violence (66.8%). Generally, participants with experiences of IPV reported cardiovascular health problems, unwanted pregnancies and pregnancy loss, and poor psychosocial health. Our findings suggest the importance of screening for IPV as part of HIV care in Ghana.

This article analyzes perspectives and strategies through which Black African immigrant youth in Calgary, Alberta, promote their social inclusion in Canadian society. Most of the literature on Blacks and other visible minority youth in Canada focuses on challenges of integration, which have been identified in terms of exclusion from and within the educational systems, labour market, racial profiling, and so on. However, there is little research on the youth from these communities in general, and their agency and strategies of social inclusion in Canadian society. This article fills this gap by stressing the agency and resilience among Black African youth in Calgary, a city that is arguably becoming increasingly diverse with the influx of immigrants from different countries and other Canadian provinces. Drawing on qualitative research methods (40 interviews--20 females and 20 males) with Ghanaian and Sudanese immigrant youths, this article incorporates meaningful insights from Black African immigrant youths on the drivers and strategies of social inclusion. The analysis is grounded in critical race theory (CRT). Overall, the findings emphasize that Black African immigrant youths' sense and strategies of inclusion are rooted in their ethnic group and religious associations. Specifically, participants identified 1) spaces of safety, 2) empowerment initiatives, and 3) support through social networks that made their sense of inclusion meaningful. The article contributes a new perspective to understanding how Black African immigrant youth capitalize on their community's knowledge to foster cultural productivity and enhance inclusion in Canadian society. Keywords: Black African immigrant youth, agency, critical race theory, social inclusion, community knowledge, African systems of knowledge, Canada. Le présent article analyse les perspectives et les stratégies par lesquelles les jeunes immigrants noirs africains de Calgary, en Alberta, favorisent leur inclusion sociale dans la société canadienne. La plupart des documents sur les Noirs et les autres jeunes des minorités visibles au Canada se concentrent sur les défis de leur intégration, qui ont été identifiés en termes d'exclusion des systèmes éducatifs et au sein de ceux-ci, du marché du travail, du profilage racial, etc. Cependant, il existe peu de recherches sur les jeunes de ces communautés en général, ainsi que sur leur agence et leurs stratégies d'inclusion sociale dans la société canadienne. Cet article comble cette lacune en mettant l'accent sur l'agence et la résilience des jeunes Noirs africains à Calgary, une ville qui devient de plus en plus diversifiée avec l'arrivée d'immigrants de différents pays et d'autres provinces canadiennes. S'appuyant sur des méthodes de recherche qualitatives (40 entretiens - 20 femmes et 20 hommes) avec des jeunes immigrants ghanéens et soudanais, cet article intègre les points de vue significatifs de jeunes immigrants noirs africains sur les moteurs et les stratégies d'inclusion sociale. L'analyse est fondée sur la théorie critique de la race (CRT). Dans l'ensemble, les résultats soulignent que le sentiment et les stratégies d'inclusion des jeunes immigrants noirs africains sont ancrés dans leur groupe ethnique et leurs associations religieuses. Plus précisément, les participants ont identifié 1) des espaces de sécurité, 2) des initiatives d'autonomisation et 3) un soutien par le biais de réseaux sociaux qui donnent un sens à leur sentiment d'inclusion. L'article offre une nouvelle perspective pour comprendre comment les jeunes immigrants noirs africains se capitalisent sur les connaissances de leur communauté pour favoriser la productivité culturelle et améliorer l'inclusion dans la société canadienne. Mots-clés : Jeunes immigrants noirs africains, agence, théorie raciale critique, inclusion sociale, connaissance de la communauté, systèmes de connaissance africains, Canada., INTRODUCTION The number of Blacks in Canada continues to increase. The 2011 and 2016 Censuses estimated the Black population at 2.9 and 3.5 per cent of Canada's population, respectively. Meanwhile, [...]

Very few studies examine the help-seeking behaviors of male survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Kenya or sub-Saharan Africa more generally. Using nationally representative cross-sectional data from 1,458 male survivors and multinomial logit models, we examined what influences men's decision to seek help after experiencing IPV. Results show the majority of male survivors did not seek help. Those who did so turned to informal rather than formal sources. The severity of physical violence was the most robust and consistent predictor of help-seeking. Male survivors of severe physical abuse had higher odds of seeking help from informal support networks than not seeking help. Compared to the uneducated, highly educated men were significantly more likely to seek help from formal support networks than to not seek help at all. Sensitization programs are required to educate male survivors of IPV on available sources of support. In particular, barriers to help-seeking must be removed to encourage male survivors to find support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 lockdown measures exacerbated the struggles of societies with existing inequalities. Given that women are generally the most vulnerable in times of pandemics and associated economic downturns, the study seeks to understand the struggles that female farmers experienced during the COVID-19 crisis and their survival responses and livelihood enhancement. To do this, we organized six women’s focus group discussions and interviewed 145 women farmers in communities within Builsa South and Ada (in Ghana) where farming is one of the major occupations for women. The findings reveal that the pandemic severely disrupted women’s access to farm inputs, markets, and farming activities amidst the absence of COVID-19 relief funds. Consequently, female farmers had to adopt multiple alternative livelihood strategies to meet their basic needs. But, the nature of the adaptation strategy adopted depended on the intersections of gender, household characteristics and remittance flows. Female farmers from migrant households with larger household sizes temporarily migrated as an alternative livelihood strategy compared to those from non-migrant households and with smaller family sizes. This distributional consequence of COVID-19 is important for government agencies to carefully consider when forming future response policies to pandemics in general and the rural agricultural sector specifically since it has implications for food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]