24% of girls between 15 and 19 years old who have been in a relationship have suffered physical or sexual violence by a male partner throughout their lives, according to a global study by the World Health Organization (WHO).
He Text published today in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health It reveals less violence against girls in higher-income countries, higher rates of girls in secondary education and more gender equality in property ownership and inheritance laws. Although Spain is in the lowest prevalence group, 12% of adolescents report such violence, according to 2015 data.
The study has used Data collected between 2000 and 2018 to provide a global overview for the first time, highlighting a great variability between countries and regions. The most dangerous for adolescent girls are Oceania (47%) and central sub-Saharan Africa (40%), while the lowest rates of violence are recorded in central Europe (10%) and central Asia (11%). At the extremes are Georgia, with 6%, and Papua New Guinea, where half of adolescent girls (49%) have experienced violence from their male partners.
“Intimate partner violence begins at an alarmingly early age for millions of young women around the world,” sums up Pascale Allotey, director of the WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research. Violence during these “critical” formative years can cause “deep and lasting damage,” warns Allotey, who recommends “taking (early sexual violence within a partner) more seriously as a public health problem.”
Despite the high figures for violence – and this does not include psychological violence – the study leaves a glimmer of hope. This is the opinion of María Pilar Matud Aznar, professor of Psychology at the University of La Laguna, in statements to the Science Media Centre“The high variation between regions, as well as the association of partner violence with the country’s contextual factors, indicate that it is a form of violence that can be prevented and eradicated.”
Recommendations to eradicate violence
WHO pulls the ears of the States, since none “is on track to eliminate violence against women and girls” by the “deadline of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030”. These situations of discrimination have major harmful effects, especially at early ages: from poor health to poor academic performance or internalized harmful values that will affect future relationships. Regarding health, the WHO warns that these situations increase the likelihood of injuries, depression, anxiety disorders, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), among others.
For the organization, tackling this violence is an “urgent need” and the solution lies in strengthening support and early prevention services. In addition, States must promote the agency and rights of women and girls from school programs that educate both boys and girls about healthy relationships and violence prevention, to legal protection and economic training, says the WHO. They emphasize this last point: “Given that many adolescents lack their own economic resources, they may have special difficulties in leaving abusive relationships.”
For Matud Aznar, the recipe for reducing global figures for gender violence lies in the differential factors between States: “Countries should provide secondary education to all girls, guarantee equal property rights for women, eliminate discriminatory gender norms and eradicate harmful practices such as child marriage,” she says.
Source: www.eldiario.es
