Material Listing

"It is vitally important that the Australian health system, and birthing services in particular, are safe, confidential places where women receive effective support and high quality care if they disclose abuse. How prepared the Australian health system is to respond to these challenges is the focus of this paper."

Sections:

The Healthy People 2010 Leading Health Indicators (LHIs) covered in this fact sheet include: Overweight and Obesity, Tobacco Use, Substance Abuse, Responsible Sexual Behavior, Mental Health, Injury and Violence, Immunization, and Access to Health Care. The LHIs includes a total of ten health indicators and were listed by the US Department of Health and Human Services to measure the health and well-being of the nation for this decade.

The study was supported by VicHealth in partnership with the Department of Human Services and was conducted with contributions from a range of experts from across Victoria and elsewhere. While focusing on health, it complements a vast body of evidence demonstrating the serious social and economic consequences of intimate partner violence for individuals, families and communities.

Contents include:

The study provides: a definition of each type of violence, the economic impact of the violence, the health care cost of the violence, trends in the violence, statistics on the incidence of the violence, a break down by race and age, a break down of hospital visits and hospital admissions, the long term impacts of the violence, and social services that address this form of violence.

Its findings include that more than 50,000 violent crimes were reported to PA police departments in 1994 at a cost of more than $233 million in PA inpatient hospital admissions.

Highlights the prevalence, risks, and lethality of violence against pregnant women.