Latest news with #publichealthcrisis
CBC
22-07-2025
- Health
- CBC
B.C. doctors studying brain injuries in survivors of intimate partner violence
Multiple recent cases of fatal intimate partner violence in B.C. have advocates like Dr. Cheryl Wellington calling on the province to declare the violence a public health crisis. The vice chair of research at UBC's department of pathology and laboratory medicine, Wellington is leading a team of researchers looking at the prevalence of traumatic brain injuries in survivors of intimate partner violence.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Advocates say intimate partner violence is a public health crisis in B.C.
Advocates like Angela Marie MacDougall are calling intimate partner violence a public health crisis in B.C.,Premier David Eby acknowledged gender-based violence an epidemic in financial mandate letter last January.
The Guardian
23-06-2025
- The Guardian
Australia is failing families affected by child sexual abuse. We must listen to the intervention and prevention experts
Child sexual abuse is a global public health crisis that directly or indirectly affects every single human being on the planet and costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year. Its lasting harms are wide-ranging, complex, amorphous, generational. In Australia, one in five boys and one in three girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. One in 10 men have a history of offending against children, online or offline. The most common adult perpetrator is a caregiver in the home. Child sexual abuse accounts for at least half of prosecuted sexual offences in this country. If you aren't a victim-survivor, perpetrator or both, the chances are you love someone who is. Eight years ago, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse made a gamut of recommendations to address the problem from every angle. Among them was provision of national support services for non-offending family members of child sexual abuse offenders, who are typically left devastated and traumatised once the offending is revealed, as well as an early intervention service for people concerned about their sexual interest or behaviour towards children. Both measures feature in the 2021 National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse and its corresponding national action plan, overseen by the National Office for Child Safety (NOCS) – which falls within the Attorney-General's Department. These services are designed to fill major gaps in the Australian response to child sexual abuse. And although tenders for these services were supposed to go to market in 2022, they weren't opened until a year later. They closed in February 2024. As of today, no contract has been signed for the delivery of these vital services. The process has been so protracted, unethical and mishandled that it warranted an independent audit conducted by the Australian National Audit Office (Anao). The Anao report, released last week, found that the Attorney-General's Department is failing in its duty to deliver essential services to prevent sexual abuse before it occurs and support affected families. The procurement process was found to be flawed in multiple ways. Perhaps most alarmingly, the highest scoring tender for family support services was inexplicably struck out in favour of the second ranked tender. Out of 11 tenderers, seven failed to comply with one or more of the assessment criteria. In sourcing consultants for the procurement process, the department was found to have engaged in non-competitive practices, contravening its own commonwealth procurement rules. Despite these shortcomings, the Attorney-General's Department is insisting that the audit will not change the outcome of the tenders. While the department's excuse for the delays is that these are 'complex' services, it is demonstrably unfair to apportion blame to the sector. The problem isn't an absence of services or experts able to manage complexity, it's government incompetence and insufficient funding. More to the point, regardless of the reason, the dire consequences of the delays extend far beyond the service providers and traumatised consumers in need. There is an unknown but guaranteed number of children who have suffered otherwise preventable sexual abuse as a result. In any other area of national crisis and priority, the contracting and delivery of critical services is unlikely to be so drawn out and poorly handled. How could something so widespread and urgent be treated with such blatant disregard? Because child sexual abuse is ugly, uncomfortable and impossible to sanitise for the mainstream. The bleak reality of child sexual abuse is that it cannot be easily communicated in glossy advertising campaigns or public education programs. The fact is, people with a sexual interest in children need options to stop them before they offend, because the moment they take that step, they leave behind a trail of destruction that includes not just their victims and their families, but their own devastated partners and children. The need for robust, specialised child sexual abuse intervention and prevention services could not be more apparent. Australia has had no national support for non-offending family members of child sexual abuse perpetrators for more than two years. After a police raid removes every device from a family home, who supports the mother? What does she do with her trauma? How does she care for her children? Who do the children of parents who've offended call? The service models that Australia needs already exist. They've been built by experts, refined over years, and proven to work. Hope lies there, and with the stalwart frontline workers and advocates across the country who will keep fighting for funding because we believe that preventing child sexual abuse is a worthy and achievable goal that benefits all of us. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit In an emergency, call 000. International helplines can be found via The Stop It Now! helpline is 1800 011 800. Grace Tame was the 2021 Australian of the Year, and is director of the Grace Tame Foundation This article has been co-signed by: Prof Michael Salter, director of the Childlight East Asia and Pacific Hub at UNSW; Prof Jon Rouse APM, Childlight East Asia and Pacific Hub at UNSW and AiLECs Lab Monash University; Hetty Johnston AM; Rosie Batty AO; Rachel Green, CEO of SANE; Natalie Walker, PartnerSPEAK founder
CBS News
27-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Philadelphia gun violence prevention advocate calls for united front after Fairmount Park mass shooting
A Memorial Day celebration in Philadelphia turned deadly Monday night as two people were killed and nine others were injured after a mass shooting erupted at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park. Police believe three shooters are responsible. Following the shooting at Lemon Hill, gun violence is being called a public health crisis, and an upcoming event is aimed at prevention. Advocates say that there needs to be a more united front in finding solutions to gun violence. In the shadow of City Hall, Oronde McClain is working to help other gunshot victims. "I got shot in the back of the head when I was 10 years old," McClain said. "I died for 2 minutes, 17 seconds. I was in a coma for seven weeks." McClain says it was a drive-by shooting 25 years ago in Mt. Airy. He still has headaches, seizures and other medical issues. He says he still has gunshot fragments in his head. "I have scars as well," McClain said. "One bullet altered my whole life." McClain will join doctors and other advocates for the upcoming Hope Symposium on Gun Violence, an effort to turn awareness into action and shape a safer tomorrow. The symposium is scheduled for June 11 at Temple University. "It cannot be addressed by just one sector," Javi Alverado with Intercultural Family Services said. "It really demands a multifaceted united response. It is a public health crisis. Prevention must go hand in hand with healing. And that's why we bring together public and private partners to support youth and families through mental health services, early intervention, education, mentorship and culturally responsive care." "I have emotional scars that will never close," McClain said. McClain says he's turning that pain into action. He works with the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting. Their mission is to bring sensitivity to the stories of victims and their families. "It's horrible what's going on right now," McClain said. One step at a time, he hopes to build a safer future.
The Independent
26-05-2025
- The Independent
Sexual violence a ‘national emergency' in UK schools amid rise of AI deepfake porn, expert warns
Sexual violence in UK schools should be considered a public health crisis, a sexism expert has warned. Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project and author of Men Who Hate Women, also warned that deepfake porn would ne the next issue that schools across the nation will have to tackle, amid the rise of AI-enabled misogyny. She sat down with BBC journalist Samira Ahmed to discuss her latest book, The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny, at the Hay Festival in Wales on Monday, which The Independent is once again partnering with. When asked about the rise in sexual violence in schools by an audience member, Ms Bates said: 'We have a crisis in schools. It is a national emergency. 'We know that one in three teenage girls are sexually assaulted at school and we know from a BBC Freedom of Information request that 5,500 sexual offences - including 600 rapes - were reported to police in schools in the UK over three years. 'If you do the very depressing maths on that, its means exactly one rape per day during the school term being reported.' She continued: 'This is a crisis, it is a public health crisis and it needs a public health programme. There has to be statutory guidance to give schools the powers to act on that, and yet its something that we're not talking about. 'But if this isn't a national emergency - one rape per day in schools - then I don't know what is.' Ms Bates also warned of the role deepfake porn could soon play in abuse of girls in British schools. She discussed a 2023 case in the Spanish town of Almendralejo, where several girls aged between 11 and 17 discovered AI generated images of them naked had been circulating on social media. 'In the years since we've seen a significant number of these cases cropping up across schools in the UK,' Ms Bates said. 'It is the next big sexual violence issue that is going to impact schools. It's just that we're not really talking about it yet.' Hay Festival, which is spread over 11 days, is set in Hay-on-Wye, the idyllic and picturesque 'Town of Books'. The lineup includes Mary Trump, Michael Sheen, Jameela Jamil, and more. The Independent has partnered with the festival once again to host a series of morning panels titled The News Review, where our journalists will explore current affairs with leading figures from politics, science, the arts and comedy every morning.
