Violence

Interpersonal violence includes:

• Gender-based violence, including violence against women
• Intimate partner violence
• Sexual violence
• Abuse of older people
• Violence against children under age 18 and child maltreatment
• Youth violence
• Armed, criminal, and gang related violence.

Interpersonal violence can directly contribute to injury, premature death and disability. It also contributes to a range of physical, sexual, reproductive, and emotional and mental health problems. Specific health-related impacts of violence on the individual include injury, suicide, or self-harm, chronic pain, unintended pregnancies, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, depression, anxiety, and other symptoms of trauma.  

Community well-being is impacted by violence. Populations living in communities with violence may be at increased risk of chronic stress and disease. Moreover, concerns about violence can prevent people from engaging in healthy behaviours like walking, bicycling or using recreational spaces. Responding to injuries as a result of violence also burdens emergency healthcare services.

People’s health is shaped by the conditions in which they live, work, learn, play and age. Often people who are most vulnerable to interpersonal violence experience the greatest inequities. For instance, interpersonal violence is often prevalent in communities with economic instability, concentrated poverty, and limited housing; and the burden is most predominantly experienced by women, people who are LGBTQI+, children, and those who experience ethnic or racial discrimination.

Violence not only costs countries billions of dollars in health care, law enforcement, and lost productivity globally each year, but it also undermines community well-being, gender equality, and the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Interpersonal violence is a violation of human rights and a pervasive public health issue. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased vulnerabilities to violence due to the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic.

In the Western Pacific Region, gender-based violence, such as sexual exploitation, most heavily burdens women and girls. An estimated 122 million girls and women aged 15-49 years in the Western Pacific having experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, mostly by someone they know. For many children in the Western Pacific, violence is a daily reality impacting their lifelong health and well-being.  During the COVID-19 pandemic the risk of violence against children increased when schools were closed and containment measures were imposed.  

In the Western Pacific Region, 99 people are victims of homicide every day, 95% of those killed are in low- and middle-income countries. 

WHO in the Western Pacific Region is committed to supporting the implementation of the Global Plan of Action which includes actions to strengthen health system and intersectoral actions to prevent and respond to interpersonal violence.

This plan provides guidance on what Member States can do to prevent and respond to violence by strengthening health system leadership and governance; health service delivery and health workers’ capacity to respond to violence; prevention efforts led or supported by the health sector; and the evidence base by improving information collected through the health system.

In collaboration with partner agencies, WHO has developed two frameworks focused on ending violence against women and violence against children: “RESPECT Women: Preventing violence against women” and “INSPIRE: Seven strategies for ending violence against children".