The Jamaica’s Women’s Health Survey is finally here!

The Jamaica Women’s Health Survey that has been in the making for several years is finally here. It is a pleasure for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to be finally launching this project today. This project is particularly important to the IDB because today we are giving a voice to women and a real dimension to this problem. Violence against women can take many forms but one of the most pervasive and difficult to address is intimate partner violence (IPV), which often takes place behind closed doors. Because intimate partner violence happens outside of public view, there are many misperceptions about how many women experience this type of violence and its impact on their mental and physical health, social and familial relationships, work life, self-esteem, and agency. Not to mention that the information that is collected on intimate partner violence – from the police or health services – is insufficient and incomplete.

The Caribbean, in particular, has no comprehensive data on intimate partner violence. Multi-country reports on violence against women often include no Caribbean countries at all. This lack of information has implications for the prevention, care, and mitigation of IPV. The lack of data compounds misperceptions of the scope and gravity of the problem and impedes strong public response to prevent such violence from occurring in the first place. Furthermore, the lack of data on the risk factors, causes, and effects of violence against women have meant that too often prevention policies and programs are being formulated in the dark or based on information from different contexts. So, it is with great pride that we announce, on behalf of the IDB along with our partners, the publication of the final report of the first national Women’s Health Survey for Jamaica. This survey is part of a larger body of IDB work to collect and disseminate data on intimate partner violence in the Caribbean.

We already launched the results of the Trinidad and Tobago survey. Today we have launched the results of the Jamaican survey and look forward to having results from three other Caribbean countries by the end of the year. The publication of the survey studies and datasets in 5 Caribbean countries will allow policymakers and the public to make meaningful comparisons and reliable estimates of the prevalence and impact of intimate partner violence across the Caribbean.

On behalf of the IDB, we would like to thank our partners from UN Women, Global Affairs Canada and DFID for making this survey possible and most importantly the Government of Jamaica for leading this effort and taking the decision to look carefully at this critical problem. On behalf of our General Manager, Therese Turner-Jones, and the IDB team, we would like to reiterate our institutional commitment to working with Government to find joint solutions to eliminate violence against women.

This study was specifically designed to collect information on women’s health and their experiences of violence in Jamaica. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to collect the data, including a household survey, in-depth interviews and focus group sessions. The household survey resulted in 1,340 respondents, with a household response rate of 85.5 percent and an individual response rate of 65.9 percent. The questionnaire covered, inter alia, general and reproductive health; attitudes towards gender roles; experiences with intimate partner violence; impacts and coping with intimate partner violence; and experiences with non-partner violence. – See more here.

Let’s #End #ViolenceAgainstWomen together:

Speak Up and Tweet about it to your network!

• Did you know that more than one in four #women have been victims of physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime? #EndVAWG. Learn more: http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• Did you know that one in four #women have experienced #PhysicalViolence by their male partner? Learn more: http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• Check out @the_IDB ‘s #first #NationalWomensHealth #Survey for #Jamaica to collect and disseminate #data on #IntimatePartnerViolence in #TheCaribbean. http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• It is with great pride that we have just launched with our partners from @UNWomen, @GAC_Corporate , and @DFID_UK the publication of the first national #WomensHealthSurvey for #Jamaica. More here: http://Iad.bg/7nrT30kBGuL

• The goal of @the_IDB’s report on #WomensHealthSurvey in #TheCaribbean is to allow policymakers and the public to make meaningful comparisons and reliable estimates of the prevalence and impact of intimate partner violence across the Caribbean. Read more: http://Iad.bg/7nrT30kBGuL

• Multi-country reports on #IntimatePartnerViolence (#IPV) lacks comprehensive data in #TheCaribbean but has very serious implications for the prevention, care, mitigation of #IPV and on family and children. Read more: http://Iad.bg/7nrT30kBGuL

• In Jamaica, the findings of the #WomensHealthSurvey challenge the perception that #ViolenceAgainstWomen is a relatively minor social problem. Read more: http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• Did you know that women who are abused have poorer general health and are more likely to suffer from depression and consider suicide than women who have never been abused? Read more http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• Did you know that children of battered women were more likely to drop out of school at a young age than children of women who have never been abused? http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• The IDB is firmly committed to working with Government to find joint solutions to eliminate #ViolenceAgainstWomen in #Jamaica. #EndVAWG! http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• The IDB’s report on #WomensHealthSurvey for #Jamaica is the third report of 5 studies the Bank has conducted. http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• The goal of @the_IDB’s report on #WomensHealthSurvey in #TheCaribbean is to allow policymakers and the public to make meaningful comparisons and reliable estimates of the prevalence and impact of #IntimatePartnerViolence across #TheCaribbean. http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• Multi-country reports on #IntimatePartnerViolence (#IPV) lacks comprehensive data in the Caribbean but has very serious implications for the prevention, care, mitigation of #IPV and on family and children. Learn more: http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

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• The Jamaica’s #WomensHealthSurvey is finally here! http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

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• Did you know that women who are abused have poorer general health and are more likely to suffer from depression and consider suicide than women who have never been abused? Did you also know that Children of battered women were more likely to drop out of school at a young age than children of women who have never been abused? Download our publication to discover more: http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4

• It is with great pride that we have launched with our partners from from UN Women, Global Affairs Canada and DFID the publication of the first national Women’s health Survey for Jamaica. The goal of our report is to allow policymakers and the public to make meaningful comparisons and reliable estimates of the prevalence and impact of intimate partner violence across the Caribbean. The IDB is firmly committed to working with Government to find joint solutions to eliminate Violence Against Women in Jamaica. Download the full report here: http://Iad.bg/7nrT30kBGuL

• The IDB’s Women’s Health Survey for Jamaica is the third report of 5 studies the Bank has conducted. Its goal is to allow policymakers and the public to make meaningful comparisons and reliable estimates of the prevalence and impact of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) across the Caribbean. Multi-country reports on IPV lack comprehensive data in the Caribbean but has very serious implications for the prevention, care, mitigation of IPV and on family and children. Read more: http://Iad.bg/L86z30kBGP4