GENDER AND FAMILY DYNAMICS
Gender-based Violence     

Gender-based violence is a public health concern of considerable importance in developed and developing countries. Women’s greatest risk of violence comes from men they know, often husbands or male family members.

In addition to violating the human rights of women, such violence poses significant risks to women’s health, including their reproductive health. These risks include immediate physical and psychological injury, as well as less obvious risks such as gynecological disorders, unsafe abortions, pregnancy complications, unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

Domestic violence, the most prevalent form of gender-based violence, remains a relatively obscured and ignored issue in reproductive health research and programming. In countries like South Africa, with a high prevalence of HIV, extremely high rates of rape and other forms of gender-based violence have been documented and may play an important role in women’s greater vulnerability to HIV infection.

Gender-based violence may be a factor in many domains of the Population Council’s areas of research—including reproductive tract infections, HIV and AIDS, and family planning.

Projects

• Algeria: Study of Gender-based Violence in Algeria

• East and Southern Africa: Sexual and Gender-based Violence in East and Southern Africa

• FRONTIERS projects

  • Bangladesh, India: Care and Support Services Provided to Rape Survivors at First Point of Contact in India and Bangladesh

  • Mexico, Peru: Expanding Use of a Program to Train Health Care Professionals on Addressing Domestic Violence

  • Peru: A Diagnostic Study Relevant to the Promotion of Youth’s Health Behaviors in Alternative Development Zones of Peru

  • South Africa: Developing an Integrated Model for Post-rape Care and HIV Post-exposure Prophylaxis in Rural South Africa and Expanding Access to Comprehensive Post-rape Services

  • South Africa: Testing the Effectiveness of Community-based Strategies in Reducing Gender-based Violence and Promoting Positive Male Involvement in Reproductive Health Activities

  • South Asia: Technical Consultative Meeting on Antitrafficking Programs in South Asia: Appropriate Activities, Indicators, and Evaluation Methodologies

  • Additional FRONTIERS projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Near East, and sub-Saharan Africa

Publications/Resources on this issue

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This page updated 26 March 2008

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