News

On 27 May 2016 the 69th World Health Assembly adopted a historic resolution WHA69. 5 on the WHO global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health system within a national multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence, in particular against women and girls, and against children. During the discussions, 28 Member States, some speaking on behalf of several others, expressed a strong willingness to use the WHO global plan of action as a key tool for implementing the violence-related Sustainable Development Goals. Eight NGOs also took the floor to express their support. The resolution: • endorses the WHO global plan of action; • encourages Member States to adapt the WHO global plan of action at national level in line with their commitments already made, including those reflected in the SDGs; • urges Member States to implement the proposed actions; • invites partners to implement the necessary actions to contribute to the accomplishment of the four strategic directions of the WHO global plan of action, which are to: o strengthen health system leadership and governance; o strengthen health service delivery and health workers'/providers' capacity to respond; o strengthen programming to prevent interpersonal violence; and o improve information and evidence. The WHO global plan of action is based in part on the findings and recommendations of the Global status report on violence prevention 2014 (GSRVP 2014), which revealed that homicide is the third leading cause of death globally for males aged 15-44 years. Non-fatal acts of violence take a particular toll on women and children. One in four children has been physically abused; one in five girls has been sexually abused; and one in three women has been a victim of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence at some point in her lifetime. The GSRVP 2014 concluded that only one third of the 133 countries surveyed are implementing large-scale initiatives to prevent violence; just over half are fully enforcing a set of 12 laws generally acknowledged to prevent violence; and only half have services in place to protect and support victims of violence. In line with the WHO global plan of action, the GSRVP 2014 calls for a scaling up of violence prevention programmes in all countries; stronger legislation and enforcement of laws relevant for violence prevention; strengthened justice and security institutions to uphold the rule of law; and enhanced services for victims of violence. It also advocates for better and more effective use of data to inform violence prevention programming and to measure progress. In addition to its current wealth of violence prevention publications and resources, WHO - in collaboration with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, endviolence, Pan American Health Organization, PEPFAR, Together for Girls, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, US Agency for International Development, and World Bank - is currently finalizing a new tool for release in July 2016. INSPIRE: seven strategies for ending violence against children flags a select group of strategies to help countries and communities intensify their focus on the violence prevention programmes and services with the greatest potential to reduce violence against children and achieve the violence-related Sustainable Development Goals.