Alleged rape: an analysis of management of cases seen at specialist hospital Gombe, Nigeria.

The aim of this study was to determine how patients who presented following sexual assault were managed at a secondary health facility in Gombe, Nigeria. The case notes of patient who presented at the Accident and Emergency Unit of State Specialist Hospital Gombe after serious sexual assault from August 1 2016 to July 30 2018 were retrieved and the data were entered into SPSS Version 20 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) and summarised as proportions. Of the 15,613 patients who presented, 277 were alleged rapes which constituted 1.77% of presentations. Two hundred and one of the patients were females with a total of 2341 admissions at the gynaecological ward representing 8.6%. One hundred and seventy one (67%) of the patients did not receive any form of care, 127 (54.0%) were not given antibiotics prophylaxis against STIs, 117 (42%) did not receive post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV/AIDS and 80% of the women between the ages of 15–45 had emergency contraception. One hundred and ninety seven (71.1%) did not receive any psychological support. Rape is common. Measures should be put in place to improve the clinical management of survivors. What is already known on this subject? Rape is common in Gombe, Nigeria, and a standard management protocol has been developed with a view to reduce the adverse consequences associated with it. Whatthe results of this study add? The results of this study show that survivors of rape in the developing countries like ours do not receive adequate clinical and psychological care when they present at the hospital. Whatthe implicationsareof these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? Given the results, there is the need for physicians managing rape cases to pay attention to details so as to minimise both immediate and long-term complications associated with rape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]