In 2002, the World Health Organization estimated that 150 million girls under the age of 18 reported being victims of sexual violence. The actual number was likely quite higher given that many cases had never been reported.
What can the global community do to address this issue?
Michele Moloney Kitts, director of the global public-partnership Together for Girls, shared that aside from response, greater importance must be given to prevention, and one way to do so is to invest in coordination.
“We often find that there’s a lot of discussion about response but not so much on primary prevention,” Moloney-Kitts said.
Watch the clip above to know how a team in Tanzania was able to set up a primary protection team for victims of sexual violence.
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About the author
Jacques Jimeno
Jacques is a copy editor at Devex’s news production team. Previously, he worked with the Philippine Department of Tourism and the World Wide Fund for Nature. He is currently taking his master’s degree in communication from the University of the Philippines Diliman.
