Annotation:
This fact sheet by the World Health Organization discusses violence against women as a health and human rights issue. It is based on the definition of violence against women set out in the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women: "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life". A public health approach to the prevention of violence against women and the impact on health care systems and society are also discussed. [Descriptors: Violence Against Women, International]