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Abstract
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Last week, the WHO European Region held a meeting of stakeholders to help enact national programmes to prevent violence against children. WHO estimates that in Europe alone, one in three children (55 million) encounter some form of physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological violence each year. Given that these figures likely underestimate the real scale of the problem, the WHO European Region has reaffirmed its commitment to making the issue more visible and supporting countries in developing and implementing evidence-based and data-driven national action plans.
Adults experiencing abuse as children are at greater risk of mental and physical ill-health and of risk-taking behaviours that can lead to further disease, disability, and premature mortality. In 2015, the global community committed to end violence against children by 2030 with Sustainable Development Goal 16. Although we are far from achieving this goal, the past 5 years have seen the international community align towards addressing the issue. Tools now exist to measure the prevalence of violence against children, and INSPIRE, a technical package of strategies to prevent violence in children, addresses a broad scope of complex risk factors with roots in gender norms, family dynamics, socioeconomic status, culture, and conflict.
The region is at a tipping point. 83% of countries have developed national action plans to stop child maltreatment, but fewer than half are being sufficiently funded. In the UK, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has flagged that vital child protection roles do not exist in parts of the country; where they do exist, they are often vacant or filled by inadequately trained clinicians. The RCPCH warns that failure to adequately resource care for vulnerable children and families across the UK will create substantial future problems ...
Language: en |