DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ITS EFFECT ON ADVERSE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH OUTCOMES OF WOMEN IN BANGLADESH

This paper explores domestic violence against women inflicted by husbands and its effect on reproductive health outcomes among ever married women of Bangladesh using the nationally representative 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data. Three indicators: ‘childbearing before age 18’, ‘pregnancy termination’ and ‘having symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases or sexually transmitted infections’ were considered as the outcome variables. Both bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques were applied in analysing the data. Findings revealed that, overall 53.2% of the women ever experienced any domestic violence inflicted by their husbands. The multivariate analyses revealed that, physical violence only significantly (p<0.01) increased the risk of childbearing before age 18 (OR=1.28, 95% CI=1.09-1.58). Both physical and sexual violence were associated with significantly (p<0.01) higher risks of pregnancy termination (OR=1.35, 95% CI=1.06-1.71) and having symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases or infections (OR=2.80, 95% CI=2.14-3.66). Programs to reduce poor reproductive health outcomes such as increased risk of teenage pregnancies, higher risk of pregnancy termination and elevated risk of sexually transmitted diseases among women must address domestic violence as part of effective prevention strategies.