NewsFlash

Health care providers joined advocates for violence prevention, women's rights leaders and others last month at a Capitol Hill briefing to mark the U.S. launch of the World Health Organization's (WHO) report, World Report on Violence and Health. It is the first comprehensive report to address violence as a global public health issue and to provide a thorough international review of the problem. Violence and Health compiles statistics from the 70 countries that report health data to the WHO, exploring all forms of violence, including violence against women, as an international problem of epidemic proportions.

"What we know about violence today calls out for a preventative prescription," said U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona at the briefing. "we must first accept that violence is a public health issue and treat it as such...The good news is that the crisis can be solved through prevention...Violence is not an inevitable part of the human condition."

The Surgeon General, who was a practicing physician, discussed his personal experiences treating victims of violence and the scope of the problem. "Violence against women continues to plague every nation," he continued. "This violence cannot be allowed to continue...As a society we condemn family violence. Now we need to prevent it from happening."

The briefing also featured Suzanne Binder, Director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Nils Daulaire, President and CEO, Global Health Council; and Mirta Roses Periago, Director, Pan American Health Organization/Regional Office for the Americas, WHO.

Preventing Violence

At the briefing, Etienne G. Krug, Director of the WHO's Violence and Injury Prevention and one of the lead authors of Violence and Health, outlined the recommendations, which focus on developing comprehensive violence prevention strategies that incorporate public health approaches, with an emphasis on addressing the root causes of violence. The report offers local, national and international recommendations for effective prevention. "Violence is up there as one of the leading public health problems," said Krug. There is "not a single country where there are no violence prevention efforts," but many programs have not yet been evaluated.

Since the Violence and Health was published last year as part of the WHO's Global Campaign for Violence Prevention, many of the countries where the report has been released are implementing some of its recommendations. Krug reported that Belgium, Brazil, Jordan and South Africa are among the nations that have developed national days of policy discussion, and Costa Rica, France, Mexico and the Russian Federation of States are among those planning national reports on violence.

In the U.S., advocates are focusing on the role health care providers can play in preventing violence, particularly violence against women. They are urging Congress to pass laws to improve the health care system's response to domestic violence. Among the priorities is the Domestic Violence Screening, Treatment and Prevention Act of 2003 (H.R. 1267), which would train health care providers to routinely screen female patients for abuse and give women who are experiencing violence access to services.

"The WHO report underscores what those of us who work with victims of domestic and sexual violence have known for years: violence is a major public health issue," said Family Violence Prevention Fund President Esta Soler. "Violence against women affects every community. Health care providers are in a unique position to help victims, but too many do not know how to screen patients for abuse or give battered patients the support and services they need. Congress must pass the Domestic Violence Screening, Treatment and Prevention Act without delay. The health of countless women and their families depends on it."

The WHO's World Report on Violence and Health is available on its web site, www.who.int

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