Children with disabilities are almost four times more likely to experience violence than non-disabled children, according to a review commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability and published in the medical journal The Lancet.
Around the world, at least 93 million children have moderate or severe disability. In order to create effective prevention programmes it is first necessary to establish a scale of the problem. It is the reason behind which this systematic review and meta-analysis to synthesise evidence for the prevalence and risk of violence against children with disabilities was undertaken.
To carry out this review, the researchers explored 12 electronic databases to identify studies reported between Jan 1, 1990, and Aug 17, 2010, with estimates of prevalence of violence against children (aged ≤18 years) with disabilities or their risk of being victims of violence compared with children without disabilities.
Findings from the review indicate that children with disabilities are:
–> 3.7 times more likely than non-disabled children to be victims of any sort of violence;
–> 3.6 times more likely to be victims of physical violence; and
–> 2.9 times more likely to be victims of sexual violence.
Children with intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses appear to be among the most vulnerable, with 4.6 times the risk of sexual violence compared with their non-disabled peers.
than children without a disability.
– A report shows that children with disabilities are at risk of abuse especially in institutions.
– The report was done to find out how many children are abused
and how to help them.
Factors which place children with disabilities at higher risk of violence include stigma, discrimination, and ignorance about disability, as well as a lack of social support for those who care for them. Placement of children with disabilities in institutions also increases their vulnerability to violence. In these settings and elsewhere, children with communication impairments are hampered in their ability to disclose abusive experiences.
Given the results of the review, WHO proposes certain measures to prevent the risk of abuse. In many countries they have home visiting programmes for non-disabled children at risk of violence. This could also work with children with disabilities. Another measure is to close down institutions, where the risk is higher.
e-include.eu, 10/7/2012