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Sexual Violence is a Public Health Issue

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) define sexual violence as "a public health problem." But it is more than a public health problem - it's a public health crisis. Victims of sexual violence suffer debilitating immediate and long-term physical, psychological and social effects, and when they are left untreated, or are poorly treated, victims face the risk of disease, disability and even death. Sexual violence is also a silent epidemic: Approximately 84% of rapes are not reported. The majority of victims do not talk about what happened to them because they are overwhelmed by feelings of fear, self-blame and social disgrace, and therefore do not seek the help necessary to heal. [Read more.]

Frequently Asked Questions

What is primary prevention?

Primary prevention is a public health term that distinguishes between three levels of prevention (primary, secondary and tertiary). In this regard, "primary" refers to taking measures before sexual violence has occurred to prevent initial perpetration and victimization. It means that rather than place the onus on the "potential" victim to protect him/herself from an incident of sexual violence, we, as a society, take responsibility for engendering and ensuring environments that are free from sexual violence. Primary prevention of sexual violence is about creating safer, healthier, and more equitable communities. Secondary prevention refers to immediate responses after the sexual violence has occurred to deal with the short-term consequences of violence, including crisis intervention and risk-reduction of further or additional victimization. Tertiary prevention involves long term responses after sexual violence has occurred to deal with the lasting consequences of violence, and sex offender treatment interventions.

What is a demonstration project?

Demonstration projects are intended to be initiatives where the problem is known, potential solutions are known, and one of the solutions is implementation/tested, and then the results are shared with other affected communities. (definition adapted from The Patient Safety Institute)

What is community mobilization?

Community mobilization uses deliberate, participatory processes to involve local institutions, local leaders, community groups, and members of the community to organize for collective action toward a common purpose. Community mobilization is characterized by respect for the community and its needs.

Benefits of a community mobilization approach.

Builds capacity in community for sustaining successful interventions
Builds capacity in community for future sexual violence primary prevention efforts

Community mobilization has been shown to be an effective approach to organizing communities for the purpose of developing and implementing programs that address a specific prevention effort.

(Treno, AJ, Holder, HD, Community mobilization, organization, and media advocacy: a discussion of methodological issues. Eval Rev. 1997; 21(2) :166-190.)

What is community readiness?

Community readiness is the degree to which a community is prepared to take action on a particular health or social issue (Oetting, et al, 1995). Interventions must be challenging enough to move a community forward, but efforts that are too ambitious are likely to fail because community members will not be able to respond (Plested, et al., 2005). It is important to be clear that the concept of community readiness is not that some communities are ready while others are not. Rather, communities differ in the degree to which they are ready for action. If a community is at a very low level of readiness, then direct efforts such as awareness-raising campaigns will need to be made toward increasing the level of readiness. If a community is at a mid or high level of readiness, then that community can begin designing an action agenda.