1 in 5 women and 1 in 7 men globally face sexual abuse by age 15 or younger: The Lancet

EARLY one out of five women and one out of seven men aged 20, and older globally experienced sexual violence by age 15 or even younger, according to a study published in the journal The Lancet on Thursday.

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The research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington school of Medicine in Seattle, US, showed that 67 per cent of females and 72 per cent of males reported being first sexually abused during childhood, before the age of 18.

Almost 42 per cent of females and approximately 48 per cent of males said their first sexual violence incident occurred before the age of 16. Alarmingly, 8 per cent of female survivors and 14 per cent of male survivors reported being first exposed to sexual violence before 12.