[Evolution of gender-based violence during the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic in Greater Abidjan (March 2020-May 2021)].

In Côte d'Ivoire, a country of 28 million inhabitants in West Africa, a survey conducted by the Ministry of the Family in 2018 showed the extent of gender-based violence (GBV) in the Greater Abidjan area (5 million inhabitants), the country's economic capital. The social workers employed for this work were mobilized during the Covid-19 pandemic to raise awareness and help the population fight against SARS-CoV-2. The results collected by these workers during the first period (January 2019 - February 2020) and the second period (March 2020 - April 2021) are the subject of this article.From the first period to the second, the number of rapes increased from 41 to 77, sexual assaults from 4 to 7, physical assaults from 139 to 171, and forced marriages from 4 to 7. In total, the social workers helped 303 victims during the pre-pandemic period and 402 during the pandemic. This evolution varies from municipality to municipality in the Greater Abidjan area, and is not related to the number of inhabitants per municipality and without any link with the frequency of Covid-19 in each municipality. Despite possible biases, this study highlights a major health problem, GBV, and demonstrates the probable negative effects of the pandemic.
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