CHILDHOOD SEX EXPLOITATION IN INDIA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF DECADE

Received: 19.06.2021; Revised: 28.07.2021, Accepted: 21.09.2021, Published Online: 11.10.2021

Suresh Kumar Jangid

Nursing Officer, AIIMS Jodhpur

Abstract

Child sexual exploitation has been identified as a serious public health concern. This issue has been a global challenge. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Child sexual exploitation as a coercive act with a child who is unable to comprehend or provide consent, leading to serious physical or psychological damage. Child sexual exploitation includes sexual activities like inappropriate touching of private parts or indulging the child in touching the private parts of the perpetrator, molestation, sodomy, exhibitionism, pornography, and cyber sexual acts. It is considered offensive in every culture.

A range of databases were searched to identify eligible studies. Studies were eligible if they reported primary quantitative or qualitative research on the Child sexual exploitation in India between 2011 and 2021. Journal publications and pre-prints were included. Reviews, position papers, protocol papers and studies published in languages other than English were excluded. The study authors screened papers for eligibility and included 8 papers in the analysis.

The evidence from this review indicates that prevalence rate of child sexual exploitation is high among boys and girls in India. Due to heterogeneousness of the study designs and lack of standardized tools, reported prevalence estimates varied greatly among both genders in different studies. This study identifies a need to conduct representative studies using standardized instruments to obtain valid results. Commercial sex workers, men with same gender interest and women with mental illness were at the higher risks for sexual abuse during childhood. The review shows poor physical, behavioral, social and mental health outcomes of child sexual exploitation in India.