World Report on Violence and Health - World Health Organization 2002

In 1996, the Forty-Ninth World Health Assembly adopted Resolution WHA49.25, declaring violence a major and growing public health problem across the world. In this resolution, the Assembly drew attention to the serious consequences of violence – both in the short-term and the long-term – for individuals, families, communities and countries, and stressed the damaging effects of violence on health care services. The Assembly asked Member States to give urgent consideration to the problem of violence within their own borders, and requested the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) to set up public health activities to deal with the problem. This, the first World report on violence and health, is an important part of WHO’s response to Resolution WHA49.25. It is aimed mainly at researchers and practitioners. The latter include health care workers, social workers, those involved in developing and implementing prevention programmes and services, educators and law enforcement officials. A summary of the report is also available. Goals The goals of the report are to raise awareness about the problem of violence globally, and to make the case that violence is preventable and that public health has a crucial role to play in addressing its causes and consequences. More specific objectives are to:

— describe the magnitude and impact of violence throughout the world;

— describe the key risk factors for violence;

— give an account of the types of intervention and policy responses that have been tried and summarize what is known about their effectiveness;

— make recommendations for action at local, national and international levels.