The African Radio Drama Association (ARDA) has assured that its toll-free interactive voice response number will provide counselling and information to survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria.
According to the nonprofit’s Executive Director, Data Phido, the toll-free line would direct or refer survivors appropriately.
Available figures indicate that SGBV in Nigeria has been on a steady increase despite the passage of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act in 2015.
Development Diaries reports that Africa’s most populous nation has the third highest rate of SGBV in the world, with data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) showing that at least 30 percent of women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced one or multiple forms of sexual abuse.
‘Sometimes, when people are abused or traumatised, they want to remain anonymous. So we looked at how to provide a solution that will enable people who are traumatised to remain anonymous if that’s what they want’, she said.
‘Also, hearing somebody, another human being, say, “what you have gone through is bad and wrong, but you’re not alone” is a warm response’.
Also speaking, Senior Project Manager at ARDA, Tawakalit Kareem, said the initiative would create a technology-based solution that will ensure that people can get access to health care at their own time.
Kareem also said it would ensure quick responses to people who need appropriate attention after battling SGBV.
‘The caller will incur no cost while using the toll-free number to seek support. Also, we will provide timely information, aided by technology and not designed specifically for smartphone usage’.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) bill into law in May 2015. However, not all the 36 states that make up Nigeria have adopted the VAPP law.
The VAPP law makes all forms of gender-based violence (GBV) like rape, spousal battery, forceful ejection from home, harmful widowhood practices punishable offences.
Photo source: DFID
