The World Health Organisation (WHO) says close to 19 million adolescent girls will have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence by the time they turn 20 years old.
This is contained in a statement released by the WHO on Tuesday from a new analysis published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.
It added that one to six or 16 per cent of adolescent girls also experienced such intimate partner violence in the past year.
Director of WHO’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research Department, Dr Pascale Allotey, said the Intimate partner violence has started alarmingly early for millions of young women around the world.
He said 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.
“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,” she said.
Allotey said high rates of violence against adolescent girls reflect deeply entrenched inequalities.
“The study drew on existing data to provide, for the first time, a detailed analysis of the prevalence of physical and sexual partner violence experienced by 15- to 19-year-old girls who have been in intimate relationships.
“It also identifies broader social, economic and cultural factors that increase their risks,” she said.
“While violence against adolescent girls occurs everywhere, the authors highlight significant differences in prevalence.
“Based on whose estimates, the worst affected regions are Oceania (47 per cent) and central sub-Saharan Africa (40 per cent), for instance, while the lowest rates are in central Europe (10 per cent) and central Asia (11 per cent).
“Between countries, there is also a substantive range: from an estimated 6 per cent of adolescent girls subjected to such violence in the least affected countries, to 49 per cent in those with the highest rates,” she said.
