CONTENTS
- The World Takes Notice
- Intimate Partner Abuse
- Sexual Coercion
- Impact on Reproductive Health
- Threats to Health and Development
- Health Providers Play a Key Role
- An Agenda for Change
HIGHLIGHTS
- What lies behind violence?
- Culture: a double-edged sword
- Child sexual abuse is widespread
- Violence harms women in many different ways
- *Pullout guide: What Health Providers Can Do
- Responding to violence: Lessons learned
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The Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) is a research and advocacy organization that seeks to integrate concern for gender equity and social justice into international health policy and practice. CHANGE staff can be reached by e-mail at change@genderhealth.org or at http://www.genderhealth.org.
December, 1999
Series L, Number 11
Issues in World Health
Coordinating Institutional
and Individual Responses
Institutions at all levels of the health care delivery system and in the community can best respond to the needs of abused women if they are trained and organized to do so. The appropriate types of response depend on the level and staffing of the institution (see Tables 7 and 8). People not only in health care but in other areas as well—including community and religious leaders, the mass media, and parents—can promote nonviolent relationships (see How to Promote... of Pullout Guide).
Many countries have developed national and local plans to improve coordination between public officials and community advocates and to monitor the quality of services for victims. The Pan American Health Organization has sponsored aproject in 10 Latin American countries to explore how best to facilitate coordinated community action. The project includes creating community-level coordinating councils, reforming the response of formal institutions such as the police and health system, and creating support groups for victims and treatment programs for perpetrators (201, 486). A similar project is underway in six additional countries with support from the Inter American Development Bank (224, 311).
