Anniversary Photo Exhibit: Violence Against Women (VAW)

Celebrating 120 Years of Solidarity in Advancing Health and Well-Being, Leaving No One Behind

The United Nations defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."

PAHO/WHO has a long history of working to improve prevention and response to violence against women and violence against children. There are four priority areas for violence prevention in the Region:

Improving the scope, quality, dissemination, and use of data on violence against women and violence against children for evidence-based policy and programming.
Strengthening capacity for preventing violence against women and children.
Improving the health sector response to violence against women and violence against children.
Supporting the development and revision of national policies and plans on violence prevention and response including specific policies and plans for addressing violence against women.

Violence against women is a human rights violation, social justice and public health problem that touches every level of society in every part of the world.

From young girls to older women, one out of every three is beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.

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Anniversary Photo Exhibit: Violence Against Women (VAW)

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