خشونت خانگی: آیا یک زمینه آفریقایی خواستار یک رویکرد متفاوت است؟

Domestic violence—the physical and/or psychological abuse of an intimate partner—is a major public health problem of concern both to the medical and legal professions. As the recent World Health Organization report notes, partner abuse leads not only to physical injury and death but also to severe effects upon the mental health of its victims, including an erosion of self-esteem, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol and drug abuse, and suicide.1 It also affects the capacity of women the world over to participate as equal and productive partners in their society, economy, and polity.2 Addressing this problem clearly requires an approach that combines a variety of remedies; legal reforms, public education, and individual psychological change are all necessary. But the remedies that are both possible and likely to be effective in a particular setting must be sensitive to the context in which the violence occurs. Using the United States as a point of comparison, this article discusses the particular context in which partner abuse takes place in Africa in order to explore the remedial strategies that are appropriate there. As part of this examination, I ask what role mental health intervention may play in the African context.