Association between intimate partner violence and child morbidity in South Asia

Background: this study investigates the association between intimate partner violence (ipv) against women and its impact on child morbidity in the south asian region. methods: the analysis uses logistic regression models with cross sectional nationally representative data from three countries - bangladesh,india and nepal. the data have been pooled from 'demographic and health surveys' (dhs) of bangladesh,nepal and 'national family and health survey' (nfhs) of india. results: the study revealed that after controlling for potential confounders,children of mothers experiencing physical violence,sexual violence or both were more likely to have acute respiratory infection (ari) (oradj 1.57; 95 % ci 1.48-1.67),fever (oradj 1.44; 95 % ci 1.35-1.54) and diarrhea (oradj 1.56; 95 % ci 1.44-1.69). conclusions: the results highlight that ipv can influence childhood morbidity and support the need to address ipv with a greater focus within current child nutrition and health programs and policies. © 2015 ferdousy and matin.