Ninety nine percent of children involved in a Soweto study have been exposed to extreme forms of violence at some point in their lives, according to results from the Birth to Twenty Plus study published in the South African Medical Journal on Wednesday. Researchers have been following about 2000 children, and their mothers, from birth for 27 years and found that only a handful of them, now adults, have not been exposed to extreme violence in their homes, schools, communities or in intimate relationships.
According to the study most have not only been exposed to violence but have been victims themselves. Four in five primary school children and 90 percent of children, when in high school, reported having suffered violent incidents. …..more