Teenage girls among most at risk from partner violence

ABSTRACT

“The prevalence of violence against women by an intimate partner is substantially higher in low- and lower-income countries where this violence is often normalised within traditional patriarchal societies, and where women may have limited access to education and economic resources, and to support services,” said the study’s lead author, Lynnmarie Sardinha, of the WHO’s department of sexual and reproductive health and research in Geneva. “In some communities in developing countries, challenges to tackling intimate partner violence include how some cultures view it as normal, weak law enforcement and lack of mental health support,” he said. Peter Memiah, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, US, said “We should use existing technology to tackle intimate partner violence, for example, leveraging on the rapid diffusion of phones in low- and middle-income countries.