Increased Gender-based Violence Among Women Internally Displaced in Mississippi 2 Years Post–Hurricane Katrina

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Lynn Lawry (e-mail: [e-mail]).

Gender-based violence (GBV) can encompass physical, sexual, and psychological violence that is perpetrated in relation to the victim’s sex and/or institutions in which gender is implicated in the act of violence.1 Although all types of GBV merit attention, sexual and physical violence against women have been a primary focus for researchers and aid organizations working with disaster-affected populations (Table 1).

TABLE 1 GBV Over Time in Relation to Hurricane Katrina

It is assumed that GBV increases within populations affected by disasters. High rates of GBV among women have been documented within communities affected by disasters, particularly among internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees, with population estimates of GBV ranging as high as 17% for sexual abuse2 and 25% for intimate partner violence (IPV).3 Assessments of change in the rates of GBV following a disaster are lacking, leaving stakeholders in disaster planning with inadequate information on the nature of GBV relative to baseline conditions, especially within a protracted phase of displacement following a disaster. Qualitative and anecdotal evidence suggests that disasters play a role in the increase of GBV in the postdisaster phase,4–8 but changes in the rates of GBV within disaster-affected populations have not yet been systematically assessed. In this regard, we assessed rates of GBV over time in a population of female IDPs displaced by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricane season. By testing for changes in the rates of GBV among women in the years following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, stakeholders in disaster planning and health services administration will be better able to respond to the protection and subsequent health issues that arise among women exposed to GBV in displaced settings.9, 10

METHODS

Participants

This study draws upon 2 phases of health needs assessments that were conducted using systematic, random sampling among IDPs living in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) travel trailer parks since the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricane season. The first phase, conducted in 2006, included IDPs in both Mississippi and Louisiana travel trailer parks as part of a larger effort to survey the population most recently affected by Katrina.3 The second phase occurred in 2007 and included the same IDP population but in Mississippi only. This study draws comparisons within Mississippi...