Public health approach to violence prevention and treatment

Violence against children is one of the important public health concerns since much of it remains hidden or unreported and is often socially accepted in some cultures. It is wide-spread in almost all countries affecting millions of children in the world. Violence against children includes physical violence, psychological violence, discrimination, neglect and maltreatment. It ranges from sexual abuse or corporal punishment to infanticide so called “honor” killing with special forms. Based on Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the UN Study on Violence against Children (UNVAC) has combined the human rights, public health and child protection perspectives listing five settings which are: home and family, schools and educational settings, the workplace, care and justice institutions and the community.

 There are more lists of strategies and policies than actual activities world-wide. There is more information about the problem than about solutions. At the individual country level, there are more treatment activities than prevention activities. The main approach of the public health professionals should be the primary prevention which is the prevention of any kind of violence in any setting against children before it occurs as in almost all public health interventions.  Their role in secondary (early detection) and tertiary prevention (provision of best possible services to reduce its harmful effects, rehabilitation) and documentation of evidence-based policies and programs which address factors that give rise to such violence is also fundamental. Public health professionals have the background to document the causes and the protective factors to give way to identify and realize prevention strategies.

 Public health professionals can be a driving force for inter- sectorial cooperation, coordination and partnership in terms of advocacy and bringing together the human rights, public health and child-protection frame-works and approaches.