000 04536nab a22004937a 4500
999 _c9230
_d9230
005 20250625151729.0
008 250512s2025 ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
040 _aAFVC
100 _aCagney, Jack
_913941
245 _aPrevalence of sexual violence against children and age at first exposure :
_ba global analysis by location, age, and sex (1990–2023)
_cJack Cagney, Cory Spencer, Luisa Flor, Molly Herbert, Mariam Khalil, Erin O’Connell, Erin Mullany, Flavia Bustreo, Joht Singh Chandan, Nicholas Metheny, Felicia Knaul and Emmanuela Gakidou
260 _bElsevier,
_c2025
500 _aThe Lancet, 2025, First published online, 7 May 2025
520 _aBackground Measuring sexual violence against children (SVAC) is vital to prevention and advocacy efforts, yet existing prevalence studies present estimates for few countries. Here we estimate the prevalence of SVAC for 204 countries by age and sex, from 1990 to 2023, and also report the age at which young survivors of lifetime sexual violence first experienced sexual violence. Methods We reviewed publicly available repositories for data on the prevalence of SVAC. To harmonise heterogeneity in the identified input data, we adjusted for alternative case definitions of SVAC and differential disclosure by survey mode. We then used a spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression to estimate a full time series of exposure to SVAC for each age-sex-country combination. We accounted for uncertainty in the underlying data and modelling processes. We also analysed the age at which adolescent and young adult survivors of lifetime sexual violence first experienced this type of violence by sex, data source, and world region. Findings We estimate that the global age-standardised prevalence of SVAC was 18·9% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 16·0–25·2) for females and 14·8% (9·5–23·5) for males in 2023. At the super-region level, these estimates ranged from 12·2% (9·0–17·2) in southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania to 26·8% (21·9–32·7) in south Asia for females and from 12·3% (5·2–24·6) in central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia to 18·6% (9·7–32·3) in sub-Saharan Africa for males. At the country level, age-standardised estimates ranged from 6·9% (4·8–9·6) in Montenegro to 42·6% (34·4–52·1) in Solomon Islands among females and from 4·2% (1·7–9·2) in Mongolia to 28·3% (13·2–49·8) in Côte d’Ivoire among males. Globally, these estimates remained relatively stable since 1990, with slight variations at the country and regional levels. We also find that the first experience of sexual violence among adolescents and young people occurred before the age of 18 years for 67·3% of female and 71·9% of male survivors. Interpretation The prevalence of SVAC is extremely high for both females and males across the globe. Given data sparsity and ongoing measurement challenges, findings probably underestimate the true pervasiveness of SVAC. An overwhelmingly high proportion of survivors first experienced sexual violence during childhood, revealing a narrow yet sensitive window that should be targeted in future prevention efforts. It is a moral imperative to protect children from violence and mitigate its compounding impacts on health across the lifecourse. (Authors' abstract). Record #9230
650 _aCHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
_9121
650 _aINTERNATIONAL COMPARISON
_93394
650 _aPREVALENCE
_9457
650 _aRAWEKE TAMARIKI
_95562
650 _aSEXUAL VIOLENCE
_9531
650 _aTATAURANGA
_9598
651 _aINTERNATIONAL
_93624
651 _aAFRICA
_93364
651 _aASIA
_93363
651 _aAUSTRALIA
_92597
651 _aEUROPE
_93372
651 _aNEW ZEALAND
_92588
651 _2PACIFIC
651 _aNORTH AMERICA
_913943
651 _aSOUTH AMERICA
_910189
700 _aSpencer, Cory
_913944
700 _aFlor, Luisa
_913945
700 _aHerbert, Molly
_913946
700 _aKhalil, Mariam
_913947
700 _aO'Connell, Erin
_913948
700 _aMullany, Erin
_913949
700 _aBustreo, Flavia
_913950
700 _aChandan, John S.
_913951
700 _aMetheny, Nicholas
_912969
700 _aKnaul, Felicia
_912970
700 _aGakidou, Emmanuela
_913952
773 0 _tThe Lancet, 2025, First published online, 7 May 2025
830 _aThe Lancet
_94435
856 _uhttps://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00311-3
_zdoi:10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00311-3 (Open access)
942 _2ddc
_cARTICLE
_hnews133