Home is a dangerous place for many women.

One in five women living in Windhoek is currently in an abusive relationship, and more than a third of women report having suffered physical or sexual abuse at the hands of an intimate partner at some point in their lives. Further, despite the pervasiveness of this abuse, more than six out of every 10 women who find themselves in such violent relationships do not seek help. In fact, more than one in every five women in an abusive relationship do not speak to anyone about their situation.

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These are some of the findings of the Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence conducted by the World Health Organisation in 10 countries around the world, which was launched in Windhoek in November 2005 during the 16 Days of No Violence against Women. The Namibian findings had already been launched at a similar occasion in November 2003.

The study in Namibia focused on women of productive age, between the ages of 15 and 49, explained one of the members of the team, Eveline January, who is a Senior Social Worker with the Ministry of Health and Social Services. In-depth interviews were conducted with 1 500 women in Windhoek. These women were randomly selected, and came from upper, middle and lower income groups, as well as from each ethnic group in Windhoek.

Twenty per cent of the women reported having experienced sexual or physical violence from a partner within the last year. Even girls between the ages of 15 and 19 reported having experienced physical or sexual violence. Over 40 per cent of this age group reported having experienced physical or sexual violence; more than 30 per cent reported having experienced physical violence alone, and just over 20 per cent of girls between 15 and 19 reported having experienced sexual violence, the study indicates.

The women interviewed for the study reported that a variety of situations can lead to violence in the home. This can be anything from no reason at all, the drinking habits of a partner, financial problems or unemployment, to jealousy, family problems and pregnancy. Six per cent of women who were interviewed said they had been beaten during pregnancy. Almost half of these women had been punched or kicked in the abdomen, and in most of these cases, the perpetrator was the father of the child.

Another shocking finding of the study was that only eight per cent of the women who experienced physical violence approached social workers for help. Their explanation for not choosing this avenue more often was that they were not getting help from social workers. Of women who experienced violence, 62 per cent did not seek any help, while 21 per cent did not even talk to anyone about the problem.

Only six per cent of the women approached the courts for help. Their explanation for not going this route more often was that the court process was slow and cases would be postponed time and again. Women in violent relationships who do seek help often approach their parents or friends. For this reason, friends play a very vital role in situations where people are in violent domestic relationships.

At the launch of the global study, Dr Naema Abrahams of the Medical Research Council in South Africa reported on research that shows some of the links between domestic violence and infection with HIV among women. She said that women often face domestic violence when they disclose their HIV positive status to their partners. At the same time, sexual violence often results in HIV infection when women are raped by their husbands or partners. Even the threat of violence keeps women from insisting on condom use by partners they know to be unfaithful.

Dr Abrahams called on the providers of social services to deal with both these epidemics together, for example by discussing the possibility of domestic violence before counseling HIV positive pregnant women to disclose their status to their male partners.