WELCOME TO THE FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION FUND'S HEALTH E-NEWS

Domestic Violence Health Initiative (DVHI) Listserv is Now Health e-News!

NOVEMBER 26, 2003

In this issue...

Announcements
The Family Violence Prevention Fund’s Call for Abstracts
Book on the Health Sector’s Response to Gender-Based Violence
Report on Federal Research Agenda on Violence Against Women
Soros Advocacy Fellowship for Physicians

ANNOUNCEMENTS

THE FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION FUND’S CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

The Family Violence Prevention Fund invites you to submit abstracts for our National Conference on Health Care and Domestic Violence: Health Consequences Over the Lifespan, to be held October 22-23, 2004 in Boston, MA. Please visit our website http://endabuse.org/health /conference for a complete description of the conference, and to submit an abstract online!

The deadline for submission of abstracts is February 26, 2004.

The goal of the Third National Conference on Health Care and Domestic Violence is to advance the field of health care's response to domestic violence. The conference will:

broaden the discussion on health impacts, co-occurring issues, and responses related to victims, children, perpetrators, and communities affected by domestic violence and childhood exposure to violence in the home;
describe the latest physical and mental health findings related to risk factors for, effects of, and clinical and health services prevention, identification, and response to domestic violence;
highlight innovative research, practices, programs, and partnerships between health management systems, providers, governments, legal systems, social service agencies, and domestic violence advocates that improve patient safety and health status; and
emphasize prevention and intervention strategies relevant to diverse cultures, races, classes, ethnicities, religions, physical abilities, ages, genders, sexual identities, geographic settings and communities.

The National Conference provides valuable professional education on the latest research and innovative health care prevention and clinical responses to domestic violence for all health care professionals, including physicians, dentists, nurses, physician assistants, dental hygienists, mental and behavioral health providers, social workers, researchers, domestic violence advocates, alternative health care providers, public health personnel, health care administrators, health policy makers, students, victims/survivors and others.

Please contact Mari Spira at (415) 252-8900 x 20 or via email at mari@endabuse.org with questions.

BOOK ON THE HEALTH SECTOR’S RESPONSE TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is one of the most widespread human rights abuses and public health problems in the world today, affecting as many as one out of every three women. It is also an extreme manifestation of gender inequity, targeting women and girls because of their subordinate social status in society. The consequences of GBV are often devastating and long-term, affecting women's and girls' physical health and mental well-being. At the same time, its ripple effects compromise the social development of other children in the household, the family as a unit, the communities where the individuals live, and society as a whole.

A recent publication entitled Violence against Women: The Health Sector Responds provides a strategy for addressing this complex problem and concrete approaches for carrying it out, not only for those on the front lines attending to the women who live with violence, but also for the decision-makers who may incorporate the lessons in the development of policies and resources. For those communities where support for women does not yet exist, the authors hope that this book will motivate health providers and leaders to more directly confront the issue of gender-related violence and ensure support to affected women in resolving their situation.

This book is a collaborative effort between the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and the Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH), with technical assistance provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

For more information about the book, visit: http: //www.paho.org/English/DPM/GPP/GH/VAWhealthsector.htm.

REPORT ON FEDERAL RESEARCH AGENDA ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The National Research Council of the National Academies has recently released a report entitled Advancing the Federal Research Agenda on Violence Against Women.

Violence against women is a major social problem in the United States, as well as throughout the world. Each year in this country, 300,000 women are forcibly raped, more than 4 million suffer an aggravated or simple assault, and women account for one-fifth of all homicide victims.

In recognition of these continuing problems, in 2000 Congress asked the National Research Council to develop a detailed research agenda on violence against women. To address this mandate, the National Academies appointed a steering committee of four distinguished scholars to develop a workshop that would review research on violence against women. The workshop deliberations and the conclusions and recommendations subsequently developed by the steering committee are detailed in this final report.

The report is available online in its entirety and can be reviewed free at: http://books.nap.edu/cat alog/10849.html.

For further information, contact Doug Sprunger, Communications Officer, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at The National Academies via phone: (202) 334-1368 or email dsprunge@nas.edu.

SOROS ADVOCACY FELLOWSHIP FOR PHYSICIANS

The Open Society Institute’s (OSI) program on Medicine as a Professional (MAP) continues the Soros Advocacy Fellowship Program for Physicians. MAP seeks to inspire physicians to greater participation in civil society and engagement on behalf of the public interest. The Fellowship promotes a broader vision of societal welfare as a core professional value for physicians by developing a cadre of advocates with expertise in achieving change at the local, state, and national level.

The program enables physicians to develop or strengthen advocacy skills through collaboration with advocacy organizations during a 12 to 24 month fellowship period. Participating physicians design or implement system or policy-level projects to improve health and service delivery, or to confront other social issues, including racism, violence, education, human rights, and social justice. The next deadline is January 21, 2004.

Awards range from $40,000 to $80,000 per year, plus fringe and travel to MAP sponsored meetings. Candidates must apply with the commitment of an advocacy organization that will house and mentor them.

For further information, contact OSI at (212) 547-6987 or email aurena@sorosny.org or visit http://www.soros.org/medicine.

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Health e-News is a bi-weekly electronic news digest focusing on health care and domestic violence policy, research, prevention and advocacy. Health e-News is available in both text and html formats. To subscribe Click Here.

To post an announcement or ask a question, send an e-mail to HealthE-News@endabuse.org. The digest is monitored by Vibhuti Mehra, Program Assistant with the Family Violence Prevention Fund. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to end domestic violence!

Be sure to visit our website http://endabuse.org/health to learn more about our programs, products, and campaigns!

This publication is funded in part by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau.