"The guidelines aim to raise awareness of violence against women among health-care providers and policy-makers, so that they better understand the need for an appropriate health-sector response. They provide standards that can form the basis for national guidelines, and for integrating these issues into health-care provider education...The guidelines are based on systematic reviews of the evidence, and cover: identification and clinical care for intimate partner violence; clinical care for sexual assault; training relating to intimate partner violence and sexual assault against women; policy and programmatic approaches to delivering services; mandatory reporting of intimate partner violence"
"This document summarizes ‘Responding to intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women: WHO clinical and policy guidelines’, the World Health Organization (WHO), 2013 publication, developed by an international group of experts following a thorough review of evidence. It contains evidence-based recommendations for the introduction of policies into health services and programmes to improve responses within the health sector to violence against women. Each recommendation is classified as either "strong" or "conditional", on the basis of the generalizability of benefit across different communities and cultures, the needs and preferences of women to access services, as well as taking into consideration the level of human and other resources that would be required"
WHO/RHR/13.10
"The report presents the first global systematic review of scientific data on the prevalence of two forms of violence against women: violence by an intimate partner (intimate partner violence) and sexual violence by someone other than a partner (non-partner sexual violence). It shows, for the first time, global and regional estimates of the prevalence of these two forms of violence, using data from around the world. Previous reporting on violence against women has not differentiated between partner and non-partner violence"
"One in three women aged 15-49 years will experience physical and/or sexual violence by an in-timate partner at some point in their lives. A new infographic highlights these numbers alongside facts on the severe health and social consequences of intimate partner and sexual violence. It also outlines what the health sector can do in preventing and responding to violence against women"
WHO/NMH/VIP/PVL/13.1
This resource outlines ten myths in relation to mental health and psychosocial support for conflict related sexual violence and presents relevant factual information
WHO/RHR/HRP/12.17
This resource outlines principles and interventions in relation to mental health and psychosocial support for conflict-related sexual violence
WHO/RHR/HRP/12.18
"Responding to the psychosocial and mental health needs of sexual violence survivors in conflict-affected Settings"
Ferney-Voltaire, France
28-30 November 2011
"This document promotes good practices and intends to reduce harmful practices by community-based psychosocial programmes that address sexual violence in conflict settings"
WHO/RHR/HRP/12.16
This resource contains links to seven information sheets to address and understand violence against women. The information sheets include the following: Overview; Intimate partner violence; Sexual violence; Femicide; Female genital mutilation; Human trafficking; Health consequences
"The meeting aimed to review current evidence and models of provision of care and address the range of challenges identified in providing services for victims of violence against women, particu-larly intimate partner and sexual violence, in order to initiate the process of developing guidelines for the health sector response to these problems"
"Expert meeting on health-sector responses to violence against women"
17-19 March 2009
Geneva, Switzerland
"This document aims to provide sufficient information for policy-makers and planners to develop data-driven and evidence-based programmes for preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women. Chapter 1 outlines the nature, magnitude and consequences of intimate partner and sexual violence within the broader typology of violence. Chapter 2 identifies the risk and protective factors for such violence and the importance of addressing both risk and protective factors in prevention efforts. Chapter 3 summarizes the scientific evidence base for primary prevention strategies, and describes programmes of known effectiveness, those supported by emerging evi-dence and those that could potentially be effective but have yet to be sufficiently evaluated for their impact. Chapter 4 presents a six-step framework for taking action, generating evidence and sharing results. In the closing section, several future research priorities are outlined and a number of key conclusions drawn"
This document builds on previous WHO publications and explores the different reasons for collecting information about sexual violence in emergency situations. It applies to all forms of enquiry about sexual violence and makes a number of recommendations that are intended to ensure that the necessary safety and ethical safeguards are in place at the beginning of any information gathering exercise. The document sets out the key safety and ethical issues that need to be addressed and the questions that need to be asked. There are examples of good practice and details of further information and resources that are available. This document is not intended to be a standalone guidance document but is designed to complement existing internationally-agreed ethical guidelines for research and to inform ethics review processes
This is a summary and recommendations from an international consultation co-convened by the WHO departments of Gender, Women and Health (GWH) and of HIV & AIDS to identify and review promising strategies or good practices to support women who may fear or experience violence as a consequence of HIV testing and/or HIV status disclosure; and develop recommendations to guide programmes and policies related to HIV testing and counselling, in light of current strategies to expand access to these and related services
"Violence against women by an intimate partner is a major contributor to the ill-health of women. This study analyses data from 10 countries and sheds new light on the prevalence of violence against women in countries where few data were previously available. It also uncovers the forms and patterns of this violence across different countries and cultures, documenting the consequences of violence for women’s health. This information has important implications for prevention, care and mitigation... The high rates documented by the Study of sexual abuse experienced by girls and women are of great concern, especially in light of the HIV epidemic. Greater public awareness of this problem is needed and a strong public health response that focuses on preventing such violence from occurring in the first place...This study will help national authorities to design policies and programmes that begin to deal with the problem"
"This guide describes best practices for clinical management of people who have been raped in emergency situations. It is intended for adaptation to each situation, taking into account national policies and practices, and availability of materials and drugs. This guide is intended for use by qualified health-care providers in developing protocols for the management of rape survivors in emergencies, taking into account available resources, materials, and drugs, and national policies and procedures. It can also be used in planning health-care services and training health-care providers. The document includes detailed guidance on the clinical management of women, men and children who have been raped"
This guide outlines the impact of conflict and displacement on the provision of reproductive health services and sets out a strategy to lessen the plight of individuals and communities in emergency situations. It provides tools for the assessment of needs and monitoring of reproductive health both in refugee and displacement settings and in protracted low-grade conflicts. It also addresses the reproductive health needs of the post-conflict period and looks at ways to respond to the gender-based, sexual violence. This guide is intended for health programme managers, medical coordinators, donors and NGOs, trainers and managers of social services