Abstract
Child sexual abuse is a major global public health concern, affecting one in eight children and causing massive costs including depression, unwanted pregnancy, and HIV. The gravity of this global issue is reflected by the United Nations' new effort to respond to sexual abuse in the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. The fundamental policy aims are to improve prevention, identification, and optimal responses to sexual abuse. As shown in our literature review, policymakers face difficult challenges because child sexual abuse is hidden, psychologically complex, and socially sensitive. This article offers new ideas for international progress. Insights about needed strategies are informed by an innovative multidisciplinary analysis of research from public health, medicine, social science, psychology, and neurology. Using an ecological model comprising individual, institutional, and societal dimensions, we propose that two preconditions for progress are the enhancement of awareness of child sexual abuse, and of empathic responses towards its victims.Journal of Public Health Policy advance online publication, 12 May 2016; doi:10.1057/jphp.2016.21.
Highlights
Original ArticleChild sexual abuse: Raising awareness and empathy is essential to promote new public health responses
Child sexual abuse is a massive challenge for public health, social justice, human rights, gender equality, and science.[1]
Girls are two to three times as likely as boys to be victimized in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America,[5] and higher prevalence for girls was recently found in five African nations.[4]
Summary
Child sexual abuse: Raising awareness and empathy is essential to promote new public health responses. Ben Mathewsa,* and Delphine Collin-Vézinab aAustralian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Ben Mathewsa,* and Delphine Collin-Vézinab aAustralian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. bMcGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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