Aiming to strengthen the capacities of health professionals and decision-makers to enhance the effectiveness of health system response to gender-based violence (GBV), the United Nations Population Fund Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (UNFPA EECARO) in partnership with WAVE (Women against Violence Europe) held an expert cluster workshop in Tbilisi on September 15-16 featuring representatives of Georgia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“The workshop is very important for the healthcare system as according to various audiences, surveys and studies women who are effected by violence are often contacted by doctors, nurses and different professionals at first, so professionals need to know the causes of violence, dynamics, how to recognize and document injuries,” says Maria Rosslhumer, the Executive Director at WAVE Network Office adding that the health sector is vital for supporting gender-based violence victims.
“Healthcare professionals need to know the signs and how they can ask the victim, as usually they don’t talk about it. They need to explain every step in order to gain the trust of victims. In addition, documenting those meetings and injuries are significant if the victim decides to go to court,” she explained.
According to Nino Kiknadze, afamily doctor, there are more cases of gender-based, sexual or domestic violence than identified and documented, “One of the reasons for this is that there are no clear guidelines and protocols on how to identify these cases; the second reason is that the topic is a taboo and victims prefer not to reveal them,” Kiknadze also added that a doctor needs to work hard in order to gain a patient’s trust if he or she is to be open about their experiences. Kiknadze believes that the recommendations for health care professionals on revealing, treating and referring the cases on physical, phsycological and sexual violence against women and children, developed recently with UNFPA support in Georgia will be very useful for everyone after their approval.
A recent study supported by UNFPA on Men and Gender Relations in Georgia, shows that the majority of men admitted using different forms of violence against their initmate partners: 44% of men have at least once used offensive language towards their wives/partners (swearing); 38% of men have driven their wives/partners to tears. 12-15% of men state that they have at least once slapped or pushed their wives/partners.
As Kiknadze explained, a doctor should be able to provide information to a vicitm of violence regarding the protection and assistance available within the frames of the Georgian National Referral Mechanism - there are several shelters which help women to get temporary refuge. However, if the injury is severe the doctor is obliged to notify law enforcement authorities, who carry out forensic examination of the injuries.
“A doctor’s main role is to inform a woman that violence is a crime in all cases, that there are resources to resist it and be protected” she notes.
Zaza Bokhua, the Secretary General of the Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the Professor at Postgraduate Medical Education and Continuous Professional Development, states that even though the issue has been discussed in Georgia for a long time already, it has become a priority for the country.
“Now the real work has begun, which needs a multi-disciplinary approach. It’s not only the issue of the health sector, but several ministries need to be part of it. A lot of work needs to be done” he clarified, adding that some significant steps have already been carried out by Georgia, such as establishing the National Referral Mechanism for victims of Domestic Violence offering services to survivors.
During a two-day event, participants had to launch the final UNFPA-WAVE resource package on strengthening health system response to GBV in the region. The revised package consists of two parts - a set of guidelines and a training package. It will offer health professionals in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) background information, guidelines and tools to strengthen the health system’s response to GBV. Participants facilitated a cross-regional exchange on recent developments, good practices and challenges in integrating the response to GBV in health systems, they also identified needs for technical assistance from UNFPA in implementing the resource package at country level.
The workshop was part of the joint UNFPA-WAVE project Strengthening Health-sector Responses to Gender-based Violence in the EECA region. At the center of the project has been the development of a resource package to strengthen health system approaches to GBV. The package underwent a thorough revision to further improve its relevance and ensure compliance with the 2013 WHO Clinical and Policy Guidelines on responding to intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women.
The event was organized within the framework of UN Joint Programme To Enhance Gender Equality in Georgia, with the participation of UNFPA, UNDP and UN Women, funded by the Swedish Government.
