Originally published December 7 2005
WHO releases alarming figures on the prevalence of domestic violence against women
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In its first global study of the problem of domestic violence against women, the World Health Organization found that one in six women suffer from domestic violence.
One in six women worldwide suffers domestic violence -- some battered during pregnancy -- yet many remain silent about the assaults, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
In its first global study, the WHO also said physically- or sexually-abused women were more likely to suffer longer-term health problems, including distress and suicide attempts.
The United Nations agency called for changing behavior through education programmes and training more health workers and police to investigate signs of mistreatment.
"Women are more at risk from violence involving people they know at home than from strangers in the street.
There is a feeling that the home is a safe haven and that pregnancy is a very protected period, but that is not the case," WHO's director-general Lee Jong-Wook told a news conference.
The Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women study is based on interviews with more than 24,000 women in 10 countries, ranging from Japan and Thailand to Ethiopia and Peru.
Husbands or intimate partners are the main perpetrators.
A Peruvian woman lost twins after being hit in the stomach by the father of her unborn babies, while a Brazilian sleeps in a locked bedroom to protect herself from the partner who has threatened to shoot her, according to the report.
"Every 18 seconds, somewhere, a woman suffers violence or maltreatment ...
We must put an end to this shameful practice," said Spain's health minister Elena Salgado, current president of WHO's annual health assembly.
Domestic violence can be sparked by dinner being late, not finishing the housework on time, disobeying or refusing to have sex, the report said.
In many cases women agree that a man is justified in beating his wife under certain circumstances.
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