Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research (SRH)
Including the Human Reproduction Special Programme (HRP)
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Preventing and responding to violence against women and girls

Violence against women and girls constitutes a major public health concern and is a grave violation of human rights. Estimates by WHO indicate that, worldwide, about one woman in every three has experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.

Violence against women and girls takes multiple forms, including: intimate partner violence; sexual violence; forced marriage; femicide; and trafficking. FGM and child and early marriage constitute harmful practices that share some of the same risk factors as violence against women such as unequal gender norms.

Violence against women and girls can lead to a range of adverse physical, mental and psychosocial health outcomes, including negative impacts on sexual and reproductive health. Intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence can lead to unintended pregnancies, induced abortions, gynaecological problems and STIs, including HIV. Intimate partner violence during pregnancy also increases the likelihood of miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm delivery and low-birthweight infants. Conflict and post-conflict situations, including displacement, can exacerbate violence against women and girls, and may present the risk of additional forms of violence.

News

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16 May 2025
Departmental update

Marking 30 years of progress – engaging the health sector to tackle violence against women and girls
19 December 2024
Departmental update

Membership of the Guideline Development Group for update of guidelines on responding to violence against women
29 July 2024
News release

Adolescent girls face alarming rates of intimate partner violence

Our work

Publications

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Checklist for ensuring the quality of violence against women surveys
6 December 2023

Checklist for ensuring the quality of violence against women surveys
This checklist is designed to help national statistics offices and other national research and data institutions and research teams to think through the...
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Journal articles

2024

Sardinha L, Yüksel-KaptanoÄŸlu I, Maheu-Giroux M, García-Moreno C. Intimate partner violence against adolescent girls: regional and national prevalence estimates and associated country-level factors [published correction appears in Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2024 Sep;8(9):e11. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(24)00205-0]. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2024;8(9):636-646. doi:10.1016/S2352-4642(24)00145-7

Burke E, Watson K, Eva G, Gold J, Garcia-Moreno C, Amin A. Is addressing violence against women prioritised in health policies? Findings from a WHO policies database. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2024;4(2):e0002504. Published 2024 Feb 16. doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0002504

2023

Arora S, Bhate-Deosthali P, Rege S, Amin A, Meyer SR. Healthcare Providers' Perceptions and Experiences of Training to Respond to Violence against Women: Results from a Qualitative Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(4):3606. Published 2023 Feb 17. doi:10.3390/ijerph20043606

2022

Sardinha L, García-Moreno C, Guthold R. Global Estimated Prevalence of Physical and/or Sexual Intimate Partner Violence Against Ever-Partnered Women, by Age, 2018. J Adolesc Health. 2022;70(6):846-847. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.12.019

Sardinha L, Maheu-Giroux M, Stöckl H, Meyer SR, García-Moreno C. Global, regional, and national prevalence estimates of physical or sexual, or both, intimate partner violence against women in 2018. Lancet. 2022;399(10327):803-813. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02664-7

Gadappa S, Prabhu P, Deshpande S, et al. Innovations in implementing a health systems response to violence against women in 3 tertiary hospitals of Maharashtra India: Improving provider capacity and facility readiness. Implement Res Pract. 2022;3:26334895211067988. Published 2022 Jan 6. doi:10.1177/26334895211067988

2021

Arora S, Rege S, Bhate-Deosthali P, et al. Knowledge, attitudes and practices of health care providers trained in responding to violence against women: a pre- and post-intervention study. BMC Public Health. 2021;21(1):1973. Published 2021 Nov 1. doi:10.1186/s12889-021-12042-7

Kalra N, Hooker L, Reisenhofer S, Di Tanna GL, García-Moreno C. Training healthcare providers to respond to intimate partner violence against women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021;5(5):CD012423. Published 2021 May 31. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012423.pub2

Potter LC, Morris R, Hegarty K, García-Moreno C, Feder G. Categories and health impacts of intimate partner violence in the World Health Organization multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence. Int J Epidemiol. 2021;50(2):652-662. doi:10.1093/ije/dyaa220

2020

Meyer SR, Lasater ME, Lee L, Garcia-Moreno C. Measurement of violence against women and disability: protocol for a scoping review. BMJ Open. 2020;10(12):e040104. Published 2020 Dec 24. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040104

Meyer SR, Lasater ME, García-Moreno C. Violence against older women: A systematic review of qualitative literature. PLoS One. 2020;15(9):e0239560. Published 2020 Sep 24. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0239560

Olson RM, García-Moreno C, Colombini M. The implementation and effectiveness of the one stop centre model for intimate partner and sexual violence in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of barriers and enablers. BMJ Glob Health. 2020;5(3):e001883. Published 2020 Mar 30. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001883

Turner DT, Riedel E, Kobeissi LH, et al. Psychosocial interventions for intimate partner violence in low and middle income countries: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. J Glob Health. 2020;10(1):010409. doi:10.7189/jogh.10.010409

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Infographics

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Infographic

Every woman and girl has the right to be safe from gender-based violence
Infographic

1 in 3 women worldwide has experienced physical and/or sexual violence
Infographic

Violence against women and girls is never inevitable

Videos

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11 November 2024

WHO’s work on health response to gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies
26 March 2024

Ending violence against women with disability: Nicole Lee's story
4 December 2023

16 Days of Activism to End Violence: Mama Rose's story