Role of Health Actors in Prevention and Response against Child Sexual Abuse in Primary Schools in Zanzibar, Tanzania

George Julius Babune¹ , Juma Ramadhan Salum²

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.10 , Issue.12 , pp.99-106, Dec-2024

Online published on Dec 31, 2024

Copyright © George Julius Babune, Juma Ramadhan Salum . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
The paper is based on a study conducted in three villages in the North ‘’A’’ District: Mkokotoni, Pwani Mchangani, and Matemwe, Zanzibar. It explored the role of health actors in dealing with child sexual abuse (CSA) in primary schools. A case study research design collected data from participants, including teachers, health workers, students, parents, and community leaders. The study employed a mixed methods approach using a sample size of 84 respondents involving 49 females and 35 males of different age groups. Sampling was done using convenience and purposive methods to select participants. Data collection applied semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis with NVivo software and narration, while descriptive statistics was employed to analyse the quantitatively collected data. The findings revealed that health actors were implementing preventive, mitigative and response measures towards child sexual abuse in the study area. However, few interventions were done regarding collaboration and cooperation in dealing with CSA among health actors. Education provision is given the most importance of all interventions to the affected and infected community. The study recommends that the implementation of comprehensive interventions that link all actors, including families, schools, health workers, and community leaders, collaboratively and cooperatively are required to prevent and mitigate CSA among health actors in the study area.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Child, Health actors, Primary schools, Sexual abuse, Zanzibar

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