The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners together launched new strategies to reduce violence against children globally as the approaches shown concrete results in their field test.
WHO hopes that the seven interlinked strategies would dramatically reduce instances of violence against children globally, according to a press release issued on Wednesday.
Up to 100 crore children have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence in last one year, according to a recent study published in Pediatrics, that says homicide was among the top five causes of death for adolescents.
It says one in four children suffers physical abuse, and nearly one in five girls is sexually abused at least once in their lives.
“Knowledge about the extent and harms of violence against children is growing, together with evidence about effective strategies for prevention”, noted Dr Etienne Krug, Director of WHO.
“Now we need to build on that knowledge to work collectively to create the safe, stable, and nurturing environments that protect children and adolescents from violent harm,” Dr Krug added.
The new package has been produced in collaboration with the CDC, UNICEF, End Violence Against Children, PAHO, PEPFAR, Together for Girls, UNODC, USAID and the World Bank.
The partnership aims to bring together governments, UN agencies, civil society, the private sector, researchers and academics to build political will, promote solutions, accelerate action and strengthen collaboration to prevent violence against children.
The initiative also aims to support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG target 16.2 to “end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children”.
