Members of the Violence Prevention Alliance chart future directions
At the invitation of the Belgian Ministry of Health and WHO, violence prevention experts from 14 countries met on 19-20 June in Brussels to discuss the future strategic direction of the Violence Prevention Alliance. Agreement was made on establishing a high-level working group to ensure that the issue of violence is included on the global development agenda. In addition a number of working groups were established on issues such as data collection in emergency rooms, youth violence in entertainment venues and partnerships for violence prevention. Established in January 2004, the Alliance is a network of WHO Member State governments, nongovernmental and community-based organizations, and private, international and intergovernmental agencies which share a public health approach to violence prevention that targets its root causes. VPA activities aim to facilitate the development of policies, programmes and tools to implement the recommendations of the World report on violence and health in communities, countries, and regions around the world, and to strengthen sustained, multi-sectoral cooperation around this shared vision for violence prevention.