title: [Problems of child sexual abuse in Africa or the imbroglio of a double paradox: the example of Cameroon].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study has investigated the prevalence of sexual abuse cases in Cameroon (Africa) and approached the way these cases are solved.
  
  
  METHODS
  405 medical certificates have been reviewed within a three years period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over 405 medical certificates, 19 cases of sexual abuse have been identified. All the victims were girls. The great majority of them were aged 10-14 (57.9%) and 15-19 (31.6%). The sexual assaults have been perpetrated out of the family.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results show evidence of sexual abuse cases in Africa. Friendly adjustments by private contracts and family interventions with financial amends for the parents of the victims are often preferred to the court of justice, because of poverty, cultural pressures and judicial injunctions.
authors.affiliation: Hôpital Départemental de Monatélé, République du Cameroun, Afrique.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Menick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002163:Cameroon; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D005607:Fraud; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D011203:Poverty
vernacular_title: La problématique des enfants victimes d'abus sexuels en Afrique ou l'imbroglio d'un double paradoxe: l'exemple du Cameroun.