Qualitative interview study reveals multifaceted barriers to sexual violence reporting among survivors, highlighting the need for systemic and targeted interventions.
Reporting sexual violence to the police is key to an integrated service provision and to ensuring justice is served. However, though sexual violence is endemic globally, reporting of sexual violence remains suboptimal. This study explored factors and barriers to timely reporting of sexual violence among survivors from the perspective of frontline service providers. We used a semi-structured interview guide to interview twelve frontline service providers working in One Stop Center across five districts of Zambia. The interviewed service providers were nurses, police, paralegals, clinical officers, and counselors. Thematic analysis revealed themes around social contracts, sociocultural issues, physical conditions, psychological state, lack of knowledge, socioeconomic factors, and systemic issues as barriers to sexual violence reporting. Systematic and targeted interventions aimed at addressing these factors are key to increasing the reporting of sexual violence. These interventions have the potential to not only increase reporting but also prevent would-be offenders of sexual violence.
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Hapunda et al. (2026) studied this question.