Preventing Child Maltreatment: Is There a Need for a European Policy?

Abstract

Background The United Nations Secretary-General's report on violence against children has heightened awareness in countries of the victimisation of children worldwide. The response has been greater emphasis on child protection rather than primary prevention. Purpose To raise the level of debate about the need for European wide policy on the primary prevention of child maltreatment. Methods Policy analysis based on documents, survey of health ministry focal persons and age standardised mortality rates. Results Child maltreatment is responsible for 1500 deaths in children under 5 years of age in the 53 countries of the WHO European Region. Deaths are the tip of the clinical iceberg and millions of children are affected annually. In spite the gravity of this problem, only 80% of European Member States have policies for child maltreatment, and only 40% focus on primary prevention. WHO is conducting surveys of adverse childhood experiences in Lithuania, Latvia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Romania. Results are being presented at national policy dialogues to prioritise prevention. Significance Maltreatment constitutes one of the most severe forms of adverse experiences in childhood, and which are implicated in health risk behaviours and health effects such as the development of noncommunicable disease, mental illness and violence. Policy links are being made to the current global and European health agenda on noncommunicable disease, social determinants of health and Health 2020. This paper presents the evidence and discusses the need for a European policy to advocate for preventing child maltreatment.

Safe storage of household substances to prevent child poisoning

“…Similarly, Gálová (2007) listed some decorative and poisonous houseplants among risk factors for poisoning. Sethi et al (2008) pointed to the fact that children are at a higher risk for poisoning if hazardous substances are inadequately stored and in the reach of children. We found that most parents keep hazardous substances in a high place, out of the reach of children.…”

Risk factors of severity of abuse against older women in the home setting: A multinational European study

“…The ecological framework offers a valuable theoretical structure for understanding the abovementioned risk factors of elder abuse because it delineates the different levels (individual/micro/exo/macro) at which abuse 6 occurs (Sethi et al, 2011). Originally, it was developed by Bronfenbrenner (1979) for research on human development, but it has since been widely adopted in other disciplines to understand and describe the context in which a phenomenon occurs or as a framework for data analysis: e.g.…”

“…in child abuse (e.g. Belsky, 1980), intimate partner violence (Akhter & Wilson, 2015;Weeks & Leblanc, 2011), violence against women (Heise, 1998) as well as in research on elder abuse (Schiamberg & Gans, 2000;Sethi et al, 2011;Von Heydrich, Schiamberg & Chee, 2012;WHO, 2010). The ecological framework employs a multi-dimensional and multi-faceted view of interpersonal violence.…”

“…For example, low participation in social associations or low neighborhood involvement can be risk factors for elder abuse (Sethi et al, 2011).. Finally, societal or macro-level factors can also influence the occurrence of elder abuse.…”

“…These societal factors include the broad set of cultural values as well as different economic and social policies in different countries, which might create or maintain cultural values. For example, there could be certain cultural norms that approve of violence as acceptable in resolving conflicts (Sethi et al, 2011;WHO, 2002). Examples of macro-level factors are lack of universal health-care, low educational opportunities, type of pensions, low income security, no affordable housing, country inequality and negative attitudes towards ageing (Fraga et al, 2014;Sev'er, 2009).…”