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% of adolescent girls also experienced such intimate partner violence in the past year.
Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of WHO’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research Department said that intimate partner violence has started alarmingly early for millions of young women around the world.
According to Allotey, given that violence during these critical formative years can cause profound and lasting harm, 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 that 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 added.
“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%) and central sub-Saharan Africa (40%), for instance, while the lowest rates are in central Europe (10%) and central Asia (11%).
“Between countries, there is also a substantive range: from an estimated 6% of adolescent girls subjected to such violence in the least affected countries, to 49% in those with the highest rates,” she noted.
According to her, the new analysis found 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.
She said that it is also common where girls to have weaker legal property ownership and inheritance rights compared to men. Allotey said that child marriage which is before the age of 18 years significantly escalates risks. She added that spousal age differences create power imbalances, economic dependency, and social isolation all of which increase the likelihood of enduring abuse.
The director said that the study highlighted the urgent need to strengthen support services and early prevention measures tailored for adolescents. She said that it would also have alongside actions to advance women’s and girls’ agency and rights from school-based programmes that educate both boys and girls on healthy relationships.
According to her, since many adolescents lack their financial resources, they can face particular challenges in leaving abusive relationships.
Dr Lynnmarie Sardinha, Technical Officer for Violence against Women Data and Measurement at WHO, study author said; “The study showed 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,” Sardinha stated.
According to her, currently, no country is on track to eliminate violence against women and girls by the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal target date. She said that ending child marriage affected 1 in 5 girls globally and expanding girls’ access to secondary education will be critical factors for reducing partner violence against adolescent girls.
According to her, the WHO supports countries in measuring and addressing violence against women, including efforts to strengthen prevention and response within the healthcare sector. New WHO guidelines on the prevention of child marriage are planned for release by the end of 2024.