A new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has asserted that close to 19 million adolescent girls globally would have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence by the time they turn 20 years old. The report revealed that almost 1 in 6 girls experienced such violence in the past year.
Director of WHO’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research Department, Dr Pascale Allotey, highlighted the importance of this report, stating that this form of violence is alarmingly too early for millions of young girls around the world. She emphasised the need for this issue to receive urgent attention.
“Intimate partner violence is starting alarmingly early for millions of young women around the world.
“Partner violence can have devastating impacts on young people’s health, educational achievement, future relationships, and lifelong prospects. From a health perspective, it heightens the likelihood of injuries, depression, anxiety disorders, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and many other physical and psychological conditions.
“Given that violence during these critical formative years can cause profound and lasting harms, it needs to be taken more seriously as a public health issue – with a focus on prevention and targeted support,” she stated.
The WHO report disclosed that intimate partner violence against adolescent girls is most common in lower-income countries and regions, in places where there are fewer girls in secondary school, and where girls have weaker legal property ownership and inheritance rights compared to men.
Child marriage (before the age of 18 years) significantly escalates risks, since spousal age differences create power imbalances, economic dependency, and social isolation – all of which increase the likelihood of enduring abuse.
The Author of the report, Dr Lynnmarie Sardinha, stressed on the need for countries to adopt preventive measures and policies to increase gender equality for women and girls.
She said, “The study shows that to end gender-based violence, countries need to have policies and programmes in place that increase equality for women and girls.
“This means ensuring secondary education for all girls, securing gender-equal property rights and ending harmful practices such as child marriage, which are often underpinned by the same inequitable gender norms that perpetuate violence against women and girls.
“Currently, no country is on track to eliminate violence against women and girls by the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal target date. Ending child marriage – which affects 1 in 5 girls globally – and expanding girls’ access to secondary education will be critical factors for reducing partner violence against adolescent girls.”
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