Two things drive this article. Some treatment only works if you get it quickly, and a medical record made at the time is the strongest evidence that exists in this whole subject.
You can act on the first without ever using the second.
What is time critical
- Emergency contraception. Most effective within seventy two hours, and less effective with each day that passes.
- Post exposure prophylaxis for HIV. Must begin within seventy two hours to work. Ask for it by name if it is not offered, because it is not always volunteered.
- Forensic evidence. Best collected within seventy two hours, ideally before washing or changing clothes.
- Head injuries. Any loss of consciousness, vomiting, confusion or unusual drowsiness needs to be seen the same day, without exception and without waiting to see whether it settles.
Strangulation deserves its own section
Any pressure to the neck needs medical attention the same day. Every time. Even briefly, even with no marks, even if you feel fine.
There are two reasons. Strangulation can cause serious internal injury with no external sign at all, including damage that develops over the following days. And it is one of the strongest known predictors of later severe violence, which means it changes how urgent everything else about your situation is.
Tell the clinician exactly what happened rather than describing a fall or a knock. The examination and the questions that follow are different, and the difference matters.
Where to go
A general hospital, or a sexual assault referral centre if there is one in your state. Several states have centres providing medical care, evidence collection and counselling in one place, often without charge.
You do not need a police report to be treated. If you are told you must bring one before you can be seen, that is not a general legal requirement for treatment. Ask for the matter to be escalated within the hospital, or go elsewhere, and tell us so we can help.
What to ask for
- Ask for injuries to be documented by site, size and appearance, ideally on a body map.
- Ask for your account to be written in your own words rather than summarised.
- Ask for photographs to be taken with your consent.
- Ask for a copy, or ask where the record is held and how you obtain it later.
- Tell them where correspondence may safely be sent, and ask for that to be recorded prominently.
That last point causes real harm when it is missed. A letter or a text arriving at an unsafe address is one of the commonest ways women are exposed after seeking help.
Ask to be seen alone
If he has come with you, say to the nurse or doctor that you would like to be seen alone. Any clinician will find a clinical reason within seconds, and none of them will be surprised by the request.
If nobody offers, ask directly. If you cannot ask out loud, write it on the form. Health workers are trained to make this easy, and most are waiting for the opening.
You do not have to involve the police
Treatment and reporting are separate decisions. Many women want the treatment and are not ready for anything else, which is a complete and reasonable position rather than indecision.
What a record does is keep the option open. Deciding in six months that you want to act is far easier if there is a note from the day, made by an independent professional, describing what you said and what was found. If and when you are ready, that record is what the process runs on, and it is also what an application for a protection order is built from.
Afterwards
Injuries develop. Bruising very often looks considerably worse two days later than on the day it happened.
Photograph again at forty eight hours, with something in the frame for scale and the date visible. Keep the photographs somewhere he cannot reach, which usually means emailed to an account he does not know about rather than stored in the phone gallery.
If it was sexual violence
The specific article is here, including what Nigerian law says about assault within marriage and what to do if it happened a long time ago. The medical sequence above applies either way, and the seventy two hour window applies to emergency contraception and to prophylaxis regardless of who the person was.
If you are pregnant
Any blow to the abdomen needs to be seen the same day. So does any bleeding, any reduction in movement, and any pain that is not obviously something else. Why pregnancy changes the picture is set out separately.
What we can do
We can go with you. We can help you find a clinic that will treat you without questions about your marriage, and we can arrange counselling afterwards.
Nobody is reported anywhere because you asked for treatment.
Questions people ask
Do I need a police report before a hospital will treat me?
Treatment should not be withheld. If you are refused, escalate within the hospital or go elsewhere, and tell us so we can help.
He strangled me but there are no marks. Does it matter?
Yes, a great deal. Strangulation can cause serious internal injury with no visible sign and is a strong predictor of later severe violence. Be seen the same day and make sure it is recorded.
Will the hospital tell the police?
Practice varies. Ask at the start what will happen with the record, and say clearly what you do and do not consent to.
It happened a week ago. Is there any point going now?
Yes. Injuries can still be documented, infection and pregnancy can still be addressed, and a record made now is better than none.
If you need help now
If you are in immediate danger, call 112. To talk to HealBridge, call or send a message to +2348025170267, or use the form on our contact page. Every page on this site has a Quick Exit button at the top right, and pressing the letter E three times does the same thing.
Before you rely on anything on this page
We publish these articles so that you can understand a subject and work out what to ask for. They are written carefully and in good faith. They are still general information about how things usually work, and not advice about your situation, which we do not know.
- This is not legal advice.
- We are not a law firm. Criminal law in Nigeria is largely a state matter, the VAPP Act applies in a state only if that state adopted it, and statutory, customary and Islamic marriages are governed by different law and different courts. Two people with the same facts can have genuinely different options. Get advice from a lawyer who practises where you live — and if cost is the obstacle, ask us, because arranging that is part of what we do.
- This is not medical advice.
- Nothing here is a diagnosis and nothing here replaces being examined. Do not delay seeing a doctor, nurse or pharmacist because of something you read here, and do not start, stop or change any treatment on the strength of it. If something is time critical, go and be seen.
- This is not counselling, and it is not financial advice.
- Articles about trauma, sleep, money, debt, renting or starting a business describe what commonly helps. They are not therapy and they are not a recommendation about your own money. Speak to a counsellor, a qualified adviser or your own bank about your circumstances.
- It may be out of date, or wrong for where you are.
- Law changes, services close, numbers stop answering and practice varies by state. We correct what we find, and we cannot promise that every page is current on the day you read it. Where we do not have something confirmed, we say so rather than fill the gap.
- Reading this does not make us your lawyer or your doctor.
- No professional relationship is created by reading an article, and we cannot accept liability for decisions taken on the strength of one. What we can do is help you reach somebody who is qualified to advise you, which is what the legal and health parts of our work exist for.
- We cannot promise an outcome, and we cannot make anybody safe.
- A protection order is a piece of paper backed by an enforcement system that is inconsistent. A plan works until the day it does not. Anybody in this field promising safety is selling something, and the promise itself is dangerous because it stops people planning.
Do not let this notice stop you acting. If you are in immediate danger, call 112. If something is medically urgent, go to a hospital — you do not need a police report to be treated. And if you do not know where to start, that is a normal way to begin: use the contact page and we will take it from there.
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