Supporting elimination of gender-based violence

The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”. In 2006, the World Health Assembly declared violence against women a “leading worldwide public health problem”.

Gender-based violence against women and girls is a violation of human rights and rooted in gender inequality. Intimate partner violence, trafficking, sexual harassment, female genital mutilation, dowry murder, honour killings and infanticide are forms of the problem. An estimated 1 in 4 women in the Western Pacific is likely to experience violence in her lifetime, mostly by an intimate partner.

WHO in the Western Pacific supports implementation of the Global Plan of Action to strengthen the role of the health system as part of a national multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence. The Regional Office supports countries by generating evidence and advocacy for implementation of the Global Plan of Action. It also works with Member States to raise awareness about the prevention of and responses to interpersonal violence and to assist them in implementing WHO tools and guidelines in order to strengthen their policies and programmes.