NEWS

World Health Organization Releases First Global Study on Domestic Violence

According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization on November 25th 2005, women who are physically abused by a partner are likely to experience health problems, regardless of whether they live in a modern industrialized city or a rural area in a developing nation. The study, conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and PATH, is the first global study on domestic violence. Through interviews with 24,000 women in ten different countries (Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Thailand, Bangladesh and Tanzania), researchers found that victims are about twice as likely as non- victims to suffer from poor health and that such effects persist long after the violence has stopped. This health impact of domestic violence went beyond injuries, as women who had experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner were more likely to have pain, dizziness, and mental health problems. Victims were also more likely to have considered suicide and to have suffered miscarriages. The WHO study, which omitted North America and Western Europe, found that rates of domestic violence varied between 15% of women having been victimized in Japan to 71% in Ethiopia. Additionally, the study shows that women in developed countries were less likely to be currently suffering from abuse than were women in developing countries with 4% of women in Japan having experienced an attack in the preceding year compared to 54% in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru and Tanzania. Despite such discrepancies, however, the WHO study shows that for women who experience domestic violence, the impact of such violence on health is consistent across all settings.

For more information or to view the complete WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women, please visit http://www.who.int/gender/violence/who_multicountry_study/en/.

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS

"Patients and Providers: A Partnership to End Violence" UCSF Violence Prevention Conference

Saturday January 21 from 8am to 6:30 pm

Come learn about the health care provider response to violence! UCSF Student Health Professionals for Social Responsibility invites you to its annual Violence Prevention Conference.

$10 Early Registration Fee includes breakfast, lunch, snacks, Bay Area community resource guide, and other resources. Open to students, faculty, health care providers, community advocates, etc.

Register online at http://www.tf.org by clicking on "UCSF Conference"

Morning Highlights include: How to Address the American Public: FVPF's Public Service Announcement campaigns; Skill-building on how to assess for DV in clinic as a dentist, doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or physical therapist

Afternoon Highlights include: The Science and Sequelae of Abuse; Small group breakout sessions on special topics such as teen dating violence, violence in immigrants communities, batterer intervention, sexual assault, violence in the LGBT community, substance abuse and violence, and homelessness and violence

Other Highlights: A survivor art showcase from Bay Area organizations and survivor panel

Question? Email arunavenk@gmail.com. This conference is funded by: UCSF Chancellor's Endowment Fund, Look to End Abuse Permanently (LEAP), UCSF's School of Nursing, and UCSF's National Center of Excellence in Women's Health

Conference: Ending Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking in the 21st Century

UCSF's Center of Excellence in Women's Health would proudly like to invite you to attend the "Ending Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking in the 21st Century" conference that will take place on Monday, February 13, 2006 at the UCSF Mission Bay Convention Center in San Francisco. The goal of the symposium is to inspire solutions to the challenges of domestic violence and human trafficking.

Did you know that...

*Worldwide, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused during her lifetime.

*Nearly 25 percent of American women report being raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date at some time in their life.

*Each year it is estimated that nearly one million people-mostly women and children-are trafficked around the world. Approximately 14,500 - 17,500 people are trafficked to the United States each year, living in slavery like conditions of forced labor and sexual exploitation.

*Intimate partner violence is primarily a crime against women. In 2001, women accounted for approximately 85 percent of the victims of intimate violence and men accounted for approximately 15 percent of the victims.

The conference is designed to provide information about violence against women through speeches, panels and workshops lead by national and international leaders in this field. This event will provide a platform for education, demonstrate the compelling need, motivate individual action and encourage investment in community solutions. While the conference will bring attention to the issues nationally and internationally, the focus will be on how to take action locally.

The partners for this conference are The University of California San Francisco Center of Excellence in Women's Health, Family Violence Prevention Fund, Partners Ending Domestic Abuse, San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium, Vital Voices, Mills College and the International Museum of Women.

For more information, including conference agenda and registration, please visit http://www.ucsf.edu/coe/news_dvsummit.html.

Health Students and Faculty Against Domestic Violence is a monthly listserv aimed to network health students and faculty from across the country who are interested in improving the health sector response to domestic violence. To subscribe email arunavenk@gmail.com.

We encourage you to use this listserv to announce upcoming events you are planning or to pose questions to the group. To post an announcement or ask a question, send an e-mail to arunavenk@gmail.com.

The listserv is moderated by Aruna Venkatesan, Health Intern with the Family Violence Prevention Fund and First Year Medical Student at the University of California, San Francisco

Thank you for contributing to our community!

To learn more please visit our website http://www.endabuse.org/health