Consultative Meeting on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women held in Dhaka

Following the recent launch of the WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women, Bangladesh has embarked on multi-sectoral dialogue and consultations to strengthen efforts in addressing this subject in Bangladesh. The meeting conducted by the Bangladesh Centre for Communication Programs with the support of WHO was held at ICDDR,B on 30 November 2006. Present were senior policy makers, researchers, women’s and human rights activists, media representatives, and professional experts from six different Ministries and Institutes of the Government of Bangladesh, UN agencies, NGOs, and civil society organisations. In her opening remarks to the participants, the Additional Director General and acting Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services, Professor Hosne Ara Tahmin, stressed the urgent need for all to assume both professional as well as personal commitment and action to eliminating violence against women, particularly domestic violence and to the promotion of gender equality.

After presentations and discussions on the key Bangladesh findings and the global recommendations of the WHO multi-country study, participants developed operational priority strategies requiring attention in Bangladesh in the key areas of: the judiciary and legal support; law enforcement; health systems; social systems; education system; and the media. Moreover, participants identified the key stakeholders to develop partnerships and advocate with in order to successfully implement the priority recommended strategies. Following this consultative meeting, further consultations will take place and reports and advocacy materials developed to accelerate action on addressing domestic violence against women in Bangladesh.

The evidence spurring the urgency of action against domestic violence against women has been clearly provided by the WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women. This pioneering multi-country study, which was conducted in 10 countries, including Bangladesh, addressed the stark need for reliable and comparative data to guide policy and monitor implementation. In Bangladesh, the study found that 41% and 44% of married women reported having suffered from physical and sexual violence by their husbands respectively. Furthermore, 11% of women reported having being physically abused during at least one pregnancy. The impact of this violence is undoubtedly immense and widespread. Twenty percent of women who experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner reported poor general health compared to only 15% of those who never experienced violence. In addition, ever-abused women were nearly twice as likely to have experienced induced abortions and were three times more likely to have thought of committing suicide than those who had never been abused. Of even greater concern is that only 6% of the physically abused women ever sought help for the violence. Over half of the women who did not seek help, reported their reason for this to be because they did not think the violence was very serious and 37% kept silent because of feelings of shame or because they feared they would not be believed.

Violence against women is both a consequence and a cause of gender inequality. The Millennium Development Goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women, girls’ education

Although the health sector can play a vital role in preventing violence against women, as the health system is often the first point of contact with women who are victims of violence, significant work must be done in all the numerous other sectors in order to ensure primary prevention and adequate and comprehensive care and support for victims of physical and sexual violence and their families. However prevalent and whatever the perceptions are about domestic violence, it is most definitely not “normal”! In order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and attain and preserve basic human rights for all, domestic violence against women must be eliminated; and it is in this spirit and with these goals in mind that WHO and other partners in Bangladesh are striving.

Links:

§ Gender and Women’s Health Programme, SEARO:

§ Gender and Women’s Health Programme, WHO-HQ:

§ WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women report: