Denial of conjugal rights increases GBV cases in Chavuma

Mother and Child Health Coordinator, John Lufupa says he is concerned with the number of gender based violence (GBV) cases that go unreported.

Mr Lufupa says it has become a trend of GBV victims to seek treatment at health facilities whilst giving false information about what happened to them.

Mr. Lufupa laments that most of these GBV cases arise from marital disputes especially connected to conjugal rights.

ZANIS reports that the Mother and Child Health Coordinator said this during a stakeholders engagement meeting on child health week and safe motherhood, in Chavuma Town.

“We have had cases where people go to the hospital and lie that they are sick instead of saying the truth. Not too long ago a man kept coming at the hospital that my hand is paining because I fail on it and I need pain killers, until I probed him and told him this is GBV that is when he opened up and said yes my wife hit me with a cooking stick.

“Upon examining his hand it was discovered that the hand was fractured and that is how we admitted him. Asking him why he did not report the case he said that is my wife I cannot let her get arrested these things happen in our homes,” he said.

Another case involved a girl child defiled by her cousin whose case was reported by health workers but when the police investigated the matter they discovered that the victim’s relatives hid the defiler in fear of being arrested.

And Chavuma District Commissioner, Geoffrey Kasonda disclosed that it is a common trend for women in the area where denying their husbands conjugal rights for more than a month in some instances.

“These cases are really happening in villages , where you find a women even when she is not menstruating denying her husband sex for a period of over six months, hence you hear someone was beaten or these couples are fond of fighting and the problem is they do not report to the police”, he said.

Mr Kasonda has since called for the church’s engagement to ensure that guidance and counselling couples gets done to avoid cases of GBV.