Needs and unmet needs for support services for recently pregnant intimate partner violence survivors in Ethiopia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Globally, 2-14% of women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy. Timely response to IPV is critical to mitigate related adverse health outcomes. Barriers to accessing limited IPV support services are pervasive in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), such as Ethiopia; key barriers include mistrust, stigmatization, and self-blame, and discourage women from disclosing their experiences.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intimate partner violence during pregnancy: evidence from a multimethods study of recently pregnant women in Ethiopia.

Objectives: This multimethods study aimed to: (1) compare the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy pre-COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic using quantitative data and (2) contextualise pregnant women's IPV experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic through supplemental interviews.

Design: Quantitative analyses use data from Performance Monitoring for Action-Ethiopia, a cohort of 2868 pregnant women that collects data at pregnancy, 6 weeks, 6 months and 1-year postpartum. Following 6-week postpartum survey, in-depth semistructured interviews contextualised experiences of IPV during pregnancy with a subset of participants (n=24).