Research Paper on "Domestic Violence Around the World"

Research Paper 5 pages (1486 words) Sources: 1 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Domestic Violence Around the World

In November 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the publication of the results of a seminal study concerning the prevalence of domestic violence in 10 different countries, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Thailand, and the United Republic of Tanzania. The WHO study was conducted in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), an international nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington and national research institutions and women's organizations in the participating countries. The WHO study was truly ambitious in scope and was based on interviews with more than 24,000 women from both urban and rural regions of these 10 countries. Not surprisingly, the WHO researchers found that domestic violence has an enormous effect on the health of the domestic violence victims who were involved, and these behaviors had long-term healthcare consequences that frequently continued long after the violence ended. To gain some further insights into the implications of domestic violence around the world, this paper provides a review and summary of the WHO study, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

Although it is reasonable to suggest that most people realize that domestic violence has some serious implications for the victims who are involved, some people may fail to realize the full extent of the problem or how these types of behaviors can actually affect the women and children of the families that are affected by domestic violence. The press release from WHO emphasized that, "The first-ever [WHO] study on domestic violence reveals that intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence in women's lives - much more so than assault or rape by strangers or acquaintances" (Landmark study on domestic violence, 2006, para. 1). Although domestic violence is not restricted to male-on-female assaults, the entire WHO study was restricted to this type of domestic violence in the 10 different countries studied, and the researchers confirmed the staggering impact that sexual and physical violence has on women in these countries.

Moreover, despite the enormous impact on women's health care well-being resulting from such violence that was identified by the WHO study, the researchers also emphasized that current estimates of domestic violence may be underrated because such domestic violence remains underreported and hidden away in many countries of the world (Landmark study on domestic violence, 2006). In this regard, the press release emphasized that, "For policy makers, the greatest challenge is that abuse remains hidden. At least 20% of women reporting physical violence in the study had never told anyone before being interviewed" (Landmark study on domestic violence, 2006, para. 4). Furthermore, the WHO study found that despite the potentially life-threatening aspects of such physical violence, it was rare for victimized women to seek professional help for their healthcare needs, relying instead on family members and friends, with only the most severely abused being most likely to seek professional assistance (Landmark study on domestic violence, 2006).

The World Health Organization's director-general, Dr. Lee Jong-wook, noted that WHO researchers also determined that women in the countries studied were at far higher risk of experiencing violence at the hands of their intimate male partners than from strangers, and characterized the implications for women's health in these countries as follows: "This study shows that women are more at risk from violence at home than in the street and this has serious repercussions for women's health. The study also shows how important it is to shine a spotlight on domestic violence globally and treat it as a major public health issue" (quoted in Landmark study on domestic violence, 2006, para. 2).

Some of the study's key findings reveal the troubling extent of the problem, with between 25% and 50% of the study's subjects having experienced physical injuries as a direct result of being physically assaulted by their male partners (physical violence was determined by the WHO researchers by asking respondents whether a current or former partner had ever slapped them, thrown something at them that could hurt them; pushed or shoved them; hit them with a fist or something else that could hurt; kicked, dragged or beaten them up; choked or burnt them on purpose; threatened them with, or actually used a gun, knife or other weapon against them) (Landmark study on domestic violence, 2006). The 25%-50% of the women who reported experiencing physical domestic violence… READ MORE

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