If you thought incidents of domestic violence in India are common, think again. A recent study by the World Health Orgnaisation (WHO), published in the recent issue of the Lancet, shows that this social evil is omnipresent. The study results find clear associations between partner violence and symptoms of physical and mental health.

The study consisted of standardised population based household surveys of five countries — Bangladesh, Brazil, Peru, Thailand and Tanzania. Conducted by the WHO, along with a core research team of experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and those from the Program from Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), the results indicate that violence by a male immediate partner is widespread in all countries.

The proportion of ever-partnered women who had even suffered physical violence by a male intimate partner ranged from 13 per cent in Japan to 61 per cent in Peru, with most sites falling between 23 per cent and 49 per cent.

“A prevalence of women being hit with a fist, kicked, dragged, choked, burnt on purpose, threatened with a weapon, ranged from 4 per cent in Japan to 49 per cent in Peru,” says the study.

According to the study, the range of lifetime prevalence of sexual violence by an intimate partner was seen to be between 6 per cent in Japan and 59 per cent in Ethiopia. While, sexual violence was seen to be less frequent than physical violence, it was found to be more frequent in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Thailand.

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