# Obuvumu: Improving Health Service Uptake for Survivors of Sexual Violence

> **NIH NIH R34** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $239,713

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
High numbers of women experience sexual violence (SV) in Uganda, and this includes violence from intimate
and non-intimate partners. Studies of past year violence have revealed that three out of four females were
exposed to at least one type of SV: one out of four are victims of sexual coercion, and one out of four have
experienced forced sex. Experiencing SV has harmful effects on physical and mental health including:
unwanted pregnancy, physical injury, risky behaviors, sexual risk-taking behaviors exposing women to
sexually-transmitted infections, chronic stress, depression, low self-esteem and lack of control over
reproductive choices. The negative impacts of SV can be mitigated by health services providing timely and
effective interventions that target injury management and psychological support. However, health services for
victims of SV in Uganda, and much of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), are vastly underutilized to the extent that nine
out of 10 females who experience SV never seek care. Many factors contribute to limited uptake of health
services in Uganda and elsewhere in SSA for SV survivors, including psychological, cultural, economic, and
other factors, such as fear and stigma. Further, health services for victims often lack sufficiently qualified staff
and medical supplies, and confidentiality cannot be ensured. In the absence of timely and effective treatment,
high rates of SV result in serious psychological and physical consequences at a population level and
compromise future social and economic development. Thus, there is a strong need for research that will
generate knowledge that may be used to improve health service utilization for survivors of SV. The proposed
Obuvumu (meaning “courage” in Luganda – a local Ugandan language) study in Uganda innovates and
addresses this need through the following specific aims: Aim 1: Conduct formative qualitative research to
inform a discrete choice experiment (DCE) that will generate systematic information on health service
utilization for female survivors of SV in Uganda; Aim 2: Using a DCE approach, assess the factors that
influence women’s decisions to seek services after experiencing SV among; and Aim 3: Based on findings
from the DCE, apply user-centered design principles to co-design an intervention that addresses barriers and
preferences identified in Aims 1 and 2. If warranted, findings from this R34 will be used to inform an R01
application to test the intervention. Ultimately, study findings may help inform efforts to increase rates of
reporting SV, and improve reproductive health, mental health and related health outcomes for women in
Uganda, and more broadly in low-resource countries in SSA and other regions where rates of SV are high.
Relatedly, the long-term goal of the proposed research is to inform the future development of culturally
appropriate, feasible, acceptable and effective interventions to increase health service utilization among female
survivors of SV.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10360735
- **Project number:** 1R34MH128753-01
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Massy Mutumba
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $239,713
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-02-01 → 2024-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10360735

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10360735, Obuvumu: Improving Health Service Uptake for Survivors of Sexual Violence (1R34MH128753-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10360735. Licensed CC0.

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