Spousal violence against women in Pakistan: Implications for women's health

Introduction: Spousal violence (SV) is widely prevalent and largely underreported in Pakistan because of various cultural and structural reasons. The negative health impacts of violence are well-documented world-wide, but very few studies are available about Pakistan. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of SV in two cities of Pakistan as well as to assess its association with socio-demographic variables and its consequences for women's health. Methods: Quantitative data were collected from randomly selected eight hospitals of Lahore and Sialkot. From these hospitals, 373 ever-married women of r…