Education in schools called for A quarter of young women in relationships experience violence
First love or forced marriage: many young women in teenage relationships experience violence. Schools must do something, demands the WHO.
30.07.2024, 05:04
30.07.2024, 05:09
SDA
Almost one in four young women worldwide who have had a relationship before their 20th birthday have experienced violence. This is according to a study by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Around 19 million teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 are affected, according to the report in the specialist journal "The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health".
According to the report, there are major regional differences: While the global average is 24 percent of young women experiencing violence, the figure is 10 percent in Central Europe, 47 percent in the Oceania region and 40 percent in sub-Saharan Africa. The Oceania region includes Australia and New Zealand as well as the smaller Pacific island states.
Depression and anxiety disorders
Violence by a partner has devastating consequences in terms of health, academic and professional performance and future relationships, the WHO emphasizes. Young women are at increased risk of depression, anxiety disorders, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and mental health problems.
The problem tends to be greater in poorer countries and regions, as well as where fewer girls go to secondary school. The risks are also high where girls are married before the age of 18 because the men are often much older. This creates a power imbalance and the girls are isolated. One in five girls worldwide is married before her 18th birthday.
What schools need to do
The WHO calls for boys and girls to be educated at school about healthy relationships and stronger girls' and women's rights. It analyzed data from the years 2000 to 2018 on violence against women from 161 countries and looked at the experiences of 15 to 19-year-old young women for the report.