Using a technique called “decision-trees”, Carolina Coll and colleagues identified groups of women most vulnerable to intimate partner violence (IPV) and its markers across 48 low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The pooled analysis, which combines Demographic and Health surveys data from all countries, showed that women with lower levels of empowerment who witnessed IPV during childhood were the ones with the highest risk, accounting for 1 in every 4 women who experienced IPV in these countries (Group 4).
They represent an important target for custom interventions.

However, for 2 in every 3 women who experienced IPV, no particular risk factors were identified (Group 1). This emphasizes the need for population wide approaches, including changing social norms, strengthening laws and policies supporting gender equality and women's rights as well as guaranteeing women's access to justice systems and comprehensive health services.

Read the full article EClinicalMedicine and don´t miss the country profiles available at the supplementary material.