Domestic violence has been identified as a key issue that affects women. It is exacerbated in developing countries because of poverty, the complexities of social institutions and structures and the subordinated roles performed by women. The reported level of domestic violence is low because it is a societally acceptable for spouses to abuse their partners.

Some DSS sites such as Rakai DSS in Uganda investigate annually, cases of domestic violence with the goal of finding possible reasons that could be used in addressing this problem within the cohort and nationally. During the analysis, responses to modules on domestic violence are linked to other modules on Voluntary Counseling and Testing, marital dissolutions, age differentials between couples, alcohol use and others of interest.