A blueprint
guiding countries toward a solution to crime and
violence is offered in the World Health Organisation's 'World Report on Violence and Health'.
TO SAY something like "violence is a scourge on this nation" is now sadly trite, though it is true. But too many bloody weekends are running into each other, one after the next so that fear, apathy, resignation are becoming blurry demarcations.
For a long time violence had been the concern mainly of criminologists and other social scientists but now public health practitioners can no longer ignore its ugly grasp on the health and well-being of the world's population.
The public health approach is comprehensive and methodical focusing on
prevention. As the World Report on Violence and Health points out the
public health approach involves four steps:
- defining and monitoring the extent of the problem
- identifying the causes of the problem
- formulating and testing ways of dealing with the problem
- applying widely the measures that are found to work.
The focus is less on individuals and more on preserving the well-being of communities and populations as a whole. With this kind of organised approach to problem-solving, coming out of the public health perspective, the Report, published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), makes nine recommendations to engage governments and other stakeholders in a process to stem crime and violence:
1. create, implement and monitor a national action plan for violence prevention a plan based on consensus from a wide range of governmental and non-governmental groups that promotes effective and sustainable responses.
2. enhance capacity for collecting data on violence the capacity to collect and analyse data on violence guides the setting of priorities, programme design and the monitoring of progress.
3. define priorities for, and support research on, the causes, consequences, costs and prevention of violence research brings a better understanding of the problem in different cultural contexts. The Report states that research partners should include university faculties such as medicine, social sciences, criminology and epidemiology as well as non-governmental organisations.
4. promote primary prevention responses these include parenting training, focus on healthy families, maternal healthcare and social development programmes for children and adolescents.
5. strengthen responses for victims of violence victims should be assured of high-quality healthcare, judicial and social support.
6. integrate violence prevention into social and educational policies, and thereby promote gender and social equality.
7. increase collaboration and exchange of information on violence prevention work together with advocacy groups, international agencies, governments, researchers and so on to share knowledge and co-ordinate action.
8. promote and monitor adherence to international treaties, laws and other mechanisms to protect human rights
9. Seek practical, internationally-agreed responses to the global drug trade and the global arms trade.
Instead of groping around in the dark, this could be a blueprint for the way forward.
