One in three women, around 736 million, are subjected to physical or sexual violence, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and partners revealed in a study.
The report, Global, regional and national estimates for intimate partner violence against women and global and regional estimates for non-partner sexual violence against women, presents data from the largest ever study of the prevalence of violence against women.
WHO conducted the study on behalf of a special working group of the United Nations.
The working group includes representatives from WHO, UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).
Data from the study shows that Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the three regions that have the highest prevalence rates of intimate partner violence among women between the ages of 15 and 49.
According to the report, an estimated 37 percent of women living in the poorest countries have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their life, with some of these countries having a prevalence as high as one in two.
The study also found that the highest rates (16 percent) of intimate partner violence in the past 12 months occurred among young women aged between 15 and 24.
Intimate partner violence is by far the most prevalent form of violence against women globally (affecting around 641 million).
However, six percent of women globally report being sexually assaulted by someone other than their husband or partner.
‘Violence against women is endemic in every country and culture, causing harm to millions of women and their families, and has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic’, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.
‘But unlike Covid-19, violence against women cannot be stopped with a vaccine.
‘We can only fight it with deep-rooted and sustained efforts – by governments, communities and individuals – to change harmful attitudes, improve access to opportunities and services for women and girls, and foster healthy and mutually respectful relationships’.
While the numbers reveal already alarmingly high rates of violence against women and girls, they do not reflect the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
WHO and partners warn that the Covid-19 pandemic has further increased women’s exposure to violence, as a result of measures such as lockdowns and disruptions to vital support services.
‘It is deeply disturbing that this pervasive violence by men against women not only persists unchanged, but is at its worst for young women aged 15–24 who may also be young mothers’, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
‘And that was the situation before the pandemic stay-at-home orders. We know that the multiple impacts of Covid-19 have triggered a “shadow pandemic” of increased reported violence of all kinds against women and girls’.
She called on every government to take strong, proactive steps to address violence against women and girls, and involve women in doing so.
Source: WHO
Photo source: UN Women
