Violence Against Girls and Women - Policy Reform Process

Developing National Policy

Building a Knowledge Base

Reproductive & Sexual Health

Information, Education & Communication & Advocacy

Reproductive and Sexual Health

Complementing efforts in the legal and policy arenas, gender violence must be addressed via public health institutions, working in concert with other elements in society. Given women’s reluctance to report the abuse they are suffering, it is up to health workers, particularly those in reproductive health services such as antenatal clinics, maternity services, and family planning clinics, to be keenly alert to the possibility that their clients have been abused.

Gender violence has serious sexual and reproductive health consequences which are only now beginning to be dealt with directly by national reproductive health programmes. An effective health-care sector response to domestic violence might include the following:

Forming intersectoral working groups to share information and coordinate efforts, made up of health professionals and representatives from local organizations that provide services to victims of violence;
Developing specific protocols on gender violence, highlighting the clinical profile of victims, referral systems, screening questions, and legal information; and ensuring privacy, confidentiality, and sensitive treatment;
Training staff in counselling, examining victims, and collecting legal evidence for prosecution; ??Incorporating gender-based violence as a topic in public-health-training curricula for care providers;
Developing referral networks and resource materials;
Establishing partnerships with community-based experts involved in gender-based violence programmes and services.

Emergency situations. Among refugees during wars or civil unrest, a new social dynamic may prevail: rape, forced prostitution, forced marriage, and increased levels of female genital mutilation may be resorted to as a means of cementing cultural identity, even if these practices were not prevalent in the home region.

In 1995, a group of about 25 humanitarian and reproductive health agencies, coordinated by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and including UNFPA, developed a Minimum Intervention Service Package for use during the emergency phase of civil unrest. The package includes home delivery kits, condoms, emergency contraception, and educational materials. Increasing efforts are needed to address the psycho-social dimensions, both to prevent the escalation of gender-based violence and to treat its victims, particularly adolescent girls. Encouraging the active participation of refugees in health service planning and delivery is key to their effectiveness.

Gaza Women’s Centre for Health Care,
Social Assistance, Legal Counselling,
and Community Education

In response to numerous requests for help from Palestinian women refugees, the Italian Association for Women in Development and a local NGO in Gaza, the Culture and Free Thought Association, established a Women’s Health Centre in the Bureij Refugee Camp to provide an integrated package of services: pregnancy and post-natal monitoring; screening and prevention of female cancers; counselling teenagers about responsible sexual behaviour; counselling about domestic violence and gender equality; and a popular gymnastics programme.

Fifteen to 20 monthly workshops focus on topics of health, psychology, and legal and social issues. The project relies on community participation and outreach, and conducts training for health professionals as well.