Michelle Remme is an economist with seven years of experience in the health sector and the broader HIV sector, both at the international and country level. After completing her MSc in International Economics and Finance at Tilburg University, The Netherlands (2005), she worked as a policy officer at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the socio-economic dimensions of HIV/AIDS and broader health financing issues. She then spent 3 years in Malawi with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, providing technical assistance on the integration of HIV, gender and food security.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates November 25: International Day Against Violence Against Women – and December 10: International Human Rights Day – in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.

The 16 Days Campaign has been used as an organizing strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women by:

• raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international levels
• strengthening local work around violence against women
• establishing a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women
• providing a forum in which organizers can develop and share new and effective strategies
• demonstrating the solidarity of women around the world organizing against violence against women
• creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women

Gender Violence & Health Centre presents: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence seminar series

Friday 10th December 2010

TITLE: The measure of a man: Constructions of masculinity and interpersonal violence among young men in Peru

SPEAKER: Dr Ana-Maria Buller
Gender, Violence & Health Centre, Social & Mathematical Epidemiology Group @ LSHTM

TIME: 12.45pm-2pm
ROOM: Jerry Morris Room B, Tavistock Place

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Wednesday 8th December 2010

TITLE: Domestic violence perpetrator programmes: working with the source of the problem. What do well run perpetrator programmes add to co-ordinated community responses to violence against women and how do they contribute to women’s safety?

SPEAKER: Thangam Debbonaire
RESPECT - the UK membership association for domestic violence perpetrator programmes

TIME: 12.45pm-2pm
ROOM: Jerry Morris Room A, Tavistock Place

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Monday 6th December 2010

TITLE: Shaping the global violence and HIV agendas: Dispatches from the frontlines of the global women’s movement

SPEAKER: Lori Heise
Gender, Violence & Health Centre, Social & Mathematical Epidemiology Group @ LSHTM

TIME: 12.45pm-2pm
ROOM: Jerry Morris Room B, Tavistock Place

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Tuesday 30th November 2010

TITLE: Women at risk in migration: Violence & Health

SPEAKER: Dr Cathy Zimmerman
Gender, Violence & Health Centre, Social & Mathematical Epidemiology Group @ LSHTM

TIME: 5pm-6.30pm
ROOM: Lucas Room, Keppel Street

WHO and LSHTM release new manual on preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women

Today in London, United Kingdom, on the occasion of the 10th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, the World Heath Organization (WHO) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) release “Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women: taking action and generating evidence.” This important new tool for violence prevention researchers, practitioners and advocates provides a planning framework for developing policies and programmes for the prevention of intimate partner and sexual violence. This guide outlines the nature, magnitude, risks and consequences of intimate partner and sexual violence. It outlines strategies to prevent these forms of violence against women and describes how these can be tailored to the needs, capacities and resources of particular settings. It also emphasizes the importance of integrating scientific evaluation into all prevention activities in order to expand current knowledge of what works,

The manual describes interventions of known effectiveness, those supported by emerging evidence, and those that could potentially be effective, but have yet to be sufficiently evaluated for their impact. For instance, school-based programmes to prevent violence occurring in “dating relationships” have been shown to be effective in randomized trials in the USA and Canada. Evidence is emerging for the effectiveness of empowerment approaches which use microfinance combined with gender-equality training or are based on communications and relationship skills training such as the Stepping Stones training package, which has been widely used in low- and middle-income countries. Strategies that aim to prevent intimate partner and sexual violence through reducing the harmful use of alcohol also show promise. A six-step framework for planning, implementing and evaluating such prevention programmes and policies is presented.

This document is primarily aimed at policy-makers, programme planners and donors from public health and related sectors who seek to advance the prevention of intimate partner and sexual violence against women. In addition to the principal audience, other interested parties will include those working in other government sectors such as education, child welfare, social care, criminal justice and departments of women or gender equality; advocates from civil society organizations; local authorities; environmental and urban planners; and researchers.

Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women: taking action and generating evidence is available here (File size: 0.9 MB)

To order hard copies of the manual, please contact Ms Claire Scheurer – scheurerc@who.int

For further information, please contact Dr Alexander Butchart – butcharta@who.int, Dr Christopher Mikton – miktonc@who.int or Dr Claudia Garcia Moreno – garciamorenoc@who.int

RELATED LINKS

Preventing Child Maltreatment: a guide to taking action and generating evidence

Preventing violence: a guide to implemeting the recommendations of the World report on violence and health

Guidelines for medico-legal care for victims of sexual violence

WHO violence prevention

Joelle joined the Gender Violence & Health Centre after completing her MSc in Reproductive & Sexual Health Research at LSHTM. Prior to joining the School, she has worked in community-based organisations in Belize, Sierra Leone and Namibia on HIV and sexual health projects targetting young people.

She is currently involved in a study exploring the potential outcomes of a grants scheme for young women in Zimbabwe and Tanzania as well as the Global Burden of Disease project.

Prior to joining LSHTM as a PhD student, Leslie Kelly has worked variously as a Physiotherapist, Military Officer (logistician and infantry commander) in the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). He holds a diploma in Physiotherapy, a diploma in Public Administration (Hons), and Master of Public Health Degree from the University of the West Indies, Mona Jamaica. Leslie is now enrolled as a Ph.D. research student in the Faculty of Public Health and Policy at LSHTM, and is an honorary research fellow in the Gender Violence and Health Centre. His current research focuses on social stress research in low income Jamaican areas, social capital, exposure to crime and violence, fear of crime, perceived neighbourhood disorder and mental-ill heath. He is also part time Distance Learning Tutor with the University of London (LSHTM, MSc in Public Health).