Child abuse is the sexual, emotional or physical mistreatment of a child. This is not only in the developed countries but also in the developing countries as well. Child abuse can occur in homes, schools or in the community were a child or children can be present. The four major categories of child abuse are neglect, physical abuse, emotioanl and sexual child abuse.
Here in Kibera the most evident child abuse is the physical child abuse. This mostly happens in home and school were children are mistreated by been beaten by their parents or teachers. We can say that now the physical mistreatment of children has now reduced since the President of the Republic of Kenya passed the child abuse prevention and treatment act. But there are some schools which continue to go against these law and are still abusing the children in schools. Like their is a case where a parent/teacher beat his child to death in date(Reasearch).
Causes:
Child abuse is a complex phenomenon with multiple causes. According to reaserach Parents/ guardians who pysically abuse their spouses are more likely to abuse their children. Its the same case here in Kibera that many parents mistreat their spouses. some would come home drunk after a long day work and mistreat either their wives or children physically.
Children resulting to unintended pregnacies are more likely to be abused or neglected. Unintended pregnacies are more likely to be associated with abusive relationships hence leading to child abuse in the community.
Due to the fact that many people in Kibera are unemployed and finacially poor this is another reason which could cause child abuse. Increased rates of child abuse is more likely to be associated with economic ression as human needs go high when comodities prices rise day by day which has been experience not only here in Kibera but in Kenya at-large.
With the recent launch of Kibera gender based violence in the previous month the people of Kibera also got a chance to learn a little about child abuse. They were educated on different way to prevent child abuse which included:
-Reduce of uninteded conception which could greatly reduce the risk of child abuse due to the number of bi g families.
-Family planning inorder to reduce unwanted pregnancies which could lead to neglect and mistreatment of child abuse.