Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a serious scourge that affects all countries globally. While there are myriad factors contributing the prevalence of CSA in Zimbabwe, poverty is arguably one of the major underlying issues and root causes of most of these factors. Over the past two decades, Zimbabwe has gone through an unprecedented economic meltdown; fewer resources are being channelled towards child protection leading to the decline in standards of living for children. Consequently, children are left vulnerable to poverty which exposes them to the risk of CSA. This paper discusses a number of poverty-related factors that are contributing to CSA in Zimbabwe. A qualitative study approach was adopted, and data were collected from 38 participants and four key informants who were selected using theoretical and purposive sampling, respectively. In addition, 300 court files of CSA cases were also reviewed. Notwithstanding other circumstances leading to CSA, findings showed that poverty-related vulnerabilities, such as adverse living conditions, rurality, child labour and migration, exposed children to CSA. The paper ends by discussing the policy and social work practice implications and recommendations in view of the findings.

中文翻译：

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津巴布韦的贫困和儿童性虐待

儿童性虐待 (CSA) 是影响全球所有国家的严重祸害。虽然有无数因素导致​​津巴布韦 CSA 的流行，但贫困可以说是主要的潜在问题之一，也是大多数这些因素的根本原因。在过去的二十年里，津巴布韦经历了前所未有的经济崩溃；用于儿童保护的资源减少，导致儿童生活水平下降。因此，儿童容易陷入贫困，从而使他们面临 CSA 的风险。本文讨论了导致津巴布韦 CSA 的一些与贫困相关的因素。采用定性研究方法，从 38 名参与者和 4 名主要知情人中收集数据，他们分别使用理论抽样和目的抽样进行选择。此外，还审查了 300 份 CSA 案件的法庭档案。尽管存在导致 CSA 的其他情况，但调查结果表明，与贫困相关的脆弱性，例如不利的生活条件、农村、童工和移民，使儿童暴露于 CSA。本文最后根据调查结果讨论政策和社会工作实践的影响和建议。