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Beyond Injury: How Violence Silently Harms Women's Health
19 Dec
Summary
- Intimate partner violence is a major health risk in South Asia.
- Violence causes years of lost healthy life (DALYs) globally.
- Medical training often overlooks violence as a health cause.
Intimate partner violence is a major public health crisis, especially in South Asia, contributing significantly to women's ill health and disability. The Lancet analysis estimates that this violence costs women 1.85 crore disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally each year, encompassing years lost to premature death and disability from conditions like PTSD, chronic pain, and reproductive issues. In South Asia, it's a greater health risk factor than obesity or smoking for women of reproductive age.
The health system frequently fails to recognize violence as a root cause of non-specific symptoms. Women like Meera present with exhaustion, panic attacks, and insomnia for years, receiving treatment for individual symptoms rather than the underlying trauma. Medical training gaps mean doctors often lack the skills to identify and safely address domestic violence, viewing it as a social issue rather than a critical health determinant.
Efforts are underway to integrate gender and violence training into medical education, but systemic change is slow. Current medical curricula dedicate minimal time to these issues. Reframing intimate partner violence as a chronic disease and public health concern is crucial for shifting focus from isolated incidents to cumulative exposure and preventable illnesses, enabling the healthcare system to address the true causes of women's long-term health struggles.
