244 © 2018 Annals of Medical and Health Sciences Research Original Article Original Article How to Cite this Article: Ohihoin AG, et al. The Pattern of Sexual Assault in People Presenting to a Gynaecological Unit of a Tertiary Hospital in South-West Nigeria. Ann Med Health Sci Res. 2018;8:244-247 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Com‑ mons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‑commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. The Patern of Sexual Assault in People Presentng to a Gynaecological Unit of a Tertary Hospital in South- West Nigeria Aigbe G Ohihoin 1 *, Oliver C Ezechi 1 , Arafat A Ifemeje 2 , Ejike F Medobi 3 , Ngozi E Ohihoin 3 , and Simon D. Taylor-Robinson 4 1 Maternal and Reproductive Health Division, Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, 6-Edmund Crescent, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria; 2 Nigerian Airforce Reference Hospital, Ikeja, Nigeria; 3 HICI Healthcare Limited (Research Unit), 73A Lafaji Street Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria; 4 Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, St Mary Hospital Campus Norfolk Place London W2 IPG, United Kingdom Corresponding author: Aigbe Gregory Ohihoin, Maternal and Reproductive Health Division, Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, 6-Edmund Crescent, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria, Tel: +2348035604697 E-mail: aigbe.ohihoin@yahoo.com Abstract Context: Sexual assault is a crime of violence that incorporates unwanted sexual behaviour, such as sexual coercion, uninvited kissing, fondling, touching and ultimately, rape. Individuals prone to sexual abuse are usually the young, poor, and vulnerable members of society, who are often subject to other forms of social vices, such as domestic violence. Aims: To ascertain the patern of sexual assault in people presenting to a large gynaecological unit of a tertiary referral centre, in Nigeria. Setings and Design: Methods and Material: The study is a descriptive cross-sectional study that was undertaken over a 2-year period from January 2011 to December 2012. Statistical analysis used: SPSS. Results: The prevalence of sexual assault in this study was 1.64%. The majority (90.3%) of victims were single. At least a third (n=35) had secondary education. 62.65% of the patients delayed presentation until after 24hours, (n=52). The commonest reason for delay in presentation was of fear or embarrassment in 51.80% (n=43). The commonest place of assault was at the assailant’s home in 33.7% (n=28). Many cases of assault occurred at night. 63.65% of the victims wanted suspects to be prosecuted (n=53). 67.46% of the victims expressed the desire to take legal action (n=56). Only 51.80% of the respondents (n=43) were aware of a route of seeking re-dress. Conclusions: Victims of sexual assault delay their presentation to health facilities because of fear and embarrassment. A signifcant percentage of the victims do not know how to obtain medical help. Keywords: Sexual assault; Victims; Patern Introduction Sexual assault, a crime of violence, incorporates unwanted sexual behaviour, such as sexual coercion, uninvited relations and ultimately, rape. [1,2] Females are predominantly affected. [3,4] In Nigeria, the sexually assaulted are usually the young, poor, and the vulnerable. [5] Nineteen out of every 20 cases are unreported in Nigeria. [6] Social stigma prevents women from speaking out about sexual abuse. [7] This study aims to describe the pattern of sexual assault in people presenting to the Gynaecological Unit of a Referral Centre, in Lagos, Nigeria. This study informs future public health measures when seeking to address under-reporting and the silence of victims. Subjects and Methods This study has a descriptive cross-sectional design and was conducted over a 2-year period from January 2011 to December 31st 2012. A structured proforma was utilized to interview victims of sexual assault who presented to the gynaecological unit of a referral centre, in Lagos, Nigeria. Socio-demographic and clinical variables were extracted from the questionnaire. The questionnaire data were anonymized and the extracted data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows version 20 (IBM Inc., Armonck, New York, USA). Results A total of 5,050 patients presented to the gynaecological emergency room during the study period. Of these, 83 presented with complaints of sexual assault, giving a prevalence of 1.64%. The age range was 5-26 years [Table 1]. Most of the complainants were single (90.3%). Among those who presented with complaints of sexual assault, about a third (n=35) had at least secondary education, while only approximately 10% had tertiary education (n=8). Up to two thirds were unemployed