Sexual Violence Against Female Students in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Many adolescents are initiated to sex with force or coercion that can lead to a wide variety of serious sexual and reproductive health consequences. The prevalence of sexual violence among female students as reported from many fragmented studies in Ethiopia has not been systematized. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of sexual violence among female students in Ethiopia. Accordingly, articles were identified through a comprehensive search of databases in PubMed/MEDLINE, HINARI, EMBASE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Cochrane Library. As a result, thirteen studies were included in this meta-analysis. The data were extracted using a standardized data extraction form. The data were imported into STATA Version 11 for analysis. Heterogeneity among reported prevalence was assessed by Forest plot, Cochran's Q test, and I-2 test. A random-effects model was calculated to estimate the pooled prevalence of sexual violence. The pooled prevalence of lifetime sexual violence against female students in Ethiopia was 48.93% (95% CI 37.61, 60.25). Subgroup analysis revealed that the highest prevalence of sexual violence against female students was observed in the Oromia region (60.23%). Higher sexual violence prevalence was found among university students with a pooled prevalence of 53.76%. This systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that nearly half of female students in Ethiopia experienced sexual violence. Thus, the findings of this study suggest the need to develop prevention strategies, effective interventions, and programs to reduce violence against female students in Ethiopian educational institutions.