3.4.6 Impact on health spending and utilization of SRH services

Mpungwe and Baitambogwe respectively. Of the 11 that had experienced forced sex, 7 (63.6%) revealed that it was perpetrated by their partners while 2 (18.2%) and 3 (27.3%) by a family friend and another community member, respectively.

There is consensus within the available data sources that COVID-19 and its containment measures adversely affected domestic relations and ended up perpetuating domestic violence. As Nabukeera (2021) reported, COVID-19 created danger in the place where many assume it would be safe – within the homevii . This same view was shared by most key informants interviewed in this study. For instance, the District Health Officer had this to say:

On SGBV, it is prevalent in the forms of couple separations, beatings especially men beating women because of their masculinity although late reports indicate that there are a few women who beat men, family, and child neglect by men.

The Criminal Investigations Officer of Mpungwe Police Post also shared the same opinion on SGBV, mentioning that,

…domestic violence especially manifesting in form of husband-and-wife conflicts was very high in this area during the lockdown. What we see is that it was accelerated by alcoholism.

These revelations resound the role of power relations in perpetuating domestic violence as well as the disproportionate impact suffered by women. These issues are well established in the literature, with the majority of the perpetrators of violence being men, while women and children suffer the greatest burden. But as observed by the DHO some men also suffer at the hands of abusive women, although the rate of reporting by men tends to below.

3.4.6 Impact on health spending and utilization of SRH services The outbreak of COVID 19 and its associated response measures has caused disruptions in provision and access to health services, including SRH. Descriptive statistics show that during the period between April and June, 93.59% of young people who sought services accessed them. Of these, 56.16% were from Mpungwe, while the rest (43.84%) were from Baitambogwe.

The data also reveals that of those who received the services they sought, slightly more than a quarter (27.1%) paid, while the rest (72.74%) did not have to pay. Of these, 11 and 12 representing 47.83% and 52.17% were in Mpungwe and Baitambogwe sub-counties, respectively. Furthermore, among those who paid, the majority (40%) said the cost was high, while 28% reported that it was very high and another 28% considered the cost of services to be low/affordable. Only one young person (4%) reported that the cost of the service was low. Combined, young people who considered the cost paid for SRH services to be high were 68%. Figure 41 below shows young people’s responses on who paid for SRH services.