sdg 5.2 | eradicate gender violence
A new WHO study records one in four female victims and confirms the problem after the age of 15
“Governments are not in a position to meet the goals of ending violence against women by 2030.” With this phrase, the World Health Organization (WHO) has made clear its position regarding the ability to comply in these decades with what is one of the Sustainability Goals set by the UN to build a better future.
The international organization makes this forceful assessment in the last
global study published in The Lancet on victims of gender-based violence, in which it reveals that one in four women in the world say they suffer or have suffered physical or psychological aggression throughout their lives at the hands of partners or ex-partners. Exactly 27%. This represents almost a billion victims declared as such.
“These results confirm that violence against women by their partners continues to be a global public health problem,” says Claudia García-Moreno, one of the WHO researchers who signed the article in the leading medical journal. After Covid-19, they call for “urgent investment in effective multisectoral interventions and for the public health response to be strengthened to deal with this problem.”
To arrive at the aforementioned data, collected yesterday by Europa Press, the team of researchers has used the World Database of the World Health Organization on the Prevalence of Violence against Women, which covers 90% of women in everyone.
After adjusting parameters in the measurements, and fine-tuned in this new research, they have concluded that before the pandemic (the data includes up to 2018), 27% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 who had ever been in a relationship had suffered physical and/or sexual violence by a partner in your life.
If the time in which they have been a victim of this reality is limited, the data reveals that one in seven (13%) had suffered violence at the hands of their partner in the last 12 months, or what is the same, up to 492 millions of women. “Because the estimates in this study are based on women’s self-reported experiences and given the sensitive and stigmatized nature of the topic, it is likely that the true prevalence of violence these women experience from an intimate partner be even greater,” warns the report.
The study covers 161 countries and areas, with 2 million women aged 15 and over, representing 90% of the world’s population of women and girls. Statistical analysis allowed us to estimate the prevalence of intimate partner violence in different age groups, regions and time ranges.
High incidence between 15 and 19 years
Thus, it has been possible to see how in the younger stages the data is very high. In the younger cohort of women (15-19 years old), an estimated 24%, or nearly one in four, have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime. “The high number of young women experiencing intimate partner violence is alarming, as adolescence and early adulthood are important life stages in which the foundations of healthy relationships are built,” says Lynnmarie Sardinha of the World Organization of Health, main author of this document. The violence these young women experience has long-lasting effects on their health and well-being.”
Intimate partner violence of formerly married women (defined as women who are or have been married, cohabiting, or have a long-term sexual partner) refers to “physically, sexually, and psychologically harmful behavior in the context of marriage , cohabitation or any other form of union », collects the study in its conclusions.
This, the authors value, has significant short- and long-term repercussions on the physical and mental health of the victim, which entails “significant social and economic costs for governments, communities and individuals.”
On the latter, the study clarifies that it aims to benchmark estimates of intimate partner violence against women at the global, regional and national levels to help governments monitor their progress towards this goal and inform policy and programming to prevent and respond to violence. That they are capable, is what they doubt. Today, they insist, they are not in a position to achieve the ambitious goal in this decade, despite acknowledging that “progress has been made in the last 20 years.”
In terms of distribution in the world, the highest prevalence of this violence occurs in Oceania (49%) and in central sub-Saharan Africa (44%). The regions with the lowest estimates were Central Asia (18%) and Central Europe (16%).
Before the pandemic
The study only estimated physical and sexual violence, so psychological violence is excluded, the weight of which will also be evaluated by the WHO, an organization that is already working to strengthen notification measures for harmful psychological behavior by couples.
Despite them, the figures are described by the study as “alarming”, especially because it is expected that they will be worse when the data that shows the period of the pandemic is analyzed. “Research has shown that the pandemic has exacerbated the problems that lead to intimate partner violence, such as isolation, depression and anxiety, and alcohol use, as well as reduced access to support services,” the experts value. of the WHO.
For this reason, García-Moreno underlines, “preventing intimate partner violence from occurring is vital and urgent. Governments, societies, and communities must pay attention, invest more, and act urgently to reduce violence against women, including by addressing it in post-COVID reconstruction efforts.”