Child Abuse Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Child Abuse, including details on family violence, examinations, long-term effects, psychiatrics disorders.

Abuses of the girl child in some African societies: implications for nurse practitioners.

Khalil DD

Nursing, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road, Observatory 7925, South Africa. dkhalil@uctgsh1.uct.ac.za

The definition of a child in African societies varies. From the moment the girl child can talk and walk, she is allocated responsibilities within the family. Westernized cultures view such responsibilities as forms of abuse. Thus, various reports had been written about girl children and had been critical of African societies without acknowledging that Africa is a very large continent. This paper sets out to identify, explore, and present potential areas of abuse of the girl child, for example, female circumcision, child slaves, rape survivors, child soldiers, child prostitution, teenage pregnancy, and arranged marriages. This paper suggests strategies that healthcare professionals could initiate in situations where a girl child is being abused.

Published 3 March 2006 in Nurs Forum, 41(1): 13-24.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Child Abuse Research Today. All Rights Reserved.