The World Health Assembly adopts the global plan of action on violence against women and girls and against children

Member States of the WHO today adopted the "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" at the 69th World Health Assembly.

With 1 in 3 women globally experiencing intimate partner violence and/or sexual violence by a non-partner, the global plan of action provides a strong mandate to address violence against women and girls as a global and urgent public health problem. The plan provides guidance for Ministries of Health to accelerate the implementation of the health sector’s contribution within multisectoral  efforts to end violence against women and girls.

Implementing the global plan of action will contribute towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals including Goals 5 (Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls) and 16 (Promote Peace, Justice and Inclusive Societies). It will also contribute to the Secretary General’s Global Strategy of Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.

The global plan of action was adopted with a resolution  (EB 138.R3) that was co-sponsored by 44 Member States including: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Georgia, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United States of America, Uruguay, Zambia, and the European Union

The global plan of action recommends actions under four strategic directions

  1. strengthening health system leadership and governance
  2. strengthening health service delivery and health workers'/providers' capacity to respond to violence, in particular against women and against children
  3. strengthening n programming to prevent interpersonal violence, in particular against women and girls, and against children
  4. improving information and evidence

RHR/HRP will continue its work on violence against women by supporting countries to generate evidence on the magnitude and consequences of the problem, conducting research on effective interventions, developing guidelines and tools for the health sector response, and providing technical support to countries in developing and implementing national policies and protocols.

There are policy documents and other resources concerning this issue available on the site. The documents discussed are Draft global plan of action on violence, Strengthening the role of the health system in addressing violence, in particular against women and girls, and against children, 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. Other links can be found at our resources page.