Healthcare System: key role in addressing Domestic Violence & ACT (Awareness -Treatment- Counselling) Strategy

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Seemab Mehmood, an MBBS student at Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Lahore,Pakistan. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

A health system or healthcare system is an organization of people, institutions, and resources that delivers healthcare services to meet the health needs of target populations.[1] Every single country or area has a big or small healthcare services centre available for their victims, injured or any sort of emergency met during an accident. While managing domestic abuse/violence, usually the victims visit the nearby healthcare services center. It is evident that healthcare services can prove a way of catering to the needs of victims by following 3L’s,

1. First Line of Support (Short-Term Impact )

By providing basic healthcare facilities that are needed in case of physical injuries or mental health trauma, and by providing essential psychological support and therapy to victims by healthcare professionals. 

2. Second Line of Defence (Mid-Term Impact)

After security/legal authority, the healthcare system can play a vital role by creating enough awareness and counselling sessions even before domestic violence happens. Later, when victim attends hospital for first aid, there must be some counselling sessions where essential awareness of their provided rights by government should be re-instated and encouraged to not stay silent but to report it to police. Therefore, healthcare system can provide an armor and guard for the victims.

3. Third Line of Damage Control (Long-Term Impact)

After security & judicial system, healthcare system comes to control the damage created by domestic violence in society. Domestic violence damage can be controlled once an efficient reporting system has been established within the healthcare services delivery. Future incidences of violence from the same family or within same community can be controlled by providing continuous counseling sessions to concerned victim and their attendants. In this way, alongside providing necessary healthcare support. The healthcare system can play a vital role in controlling the damage. 

ACT Strategy

• Awareness 

The most important aspect that healthcare system can play is raising awareness about domestic violence among general population while training healthcare professionals. We need to break myth that it is an individual doom to survive someone’s aggression just because he is your better half/nearest one. We need to highlight this issue as a crime committed to suppress someone’s basic rights and highlight this aspect as a major problem. This includes

1. Healthcare Professionals Training on DV Management
2. Awareness Seminars/Webinars/Public Campaigns
3. Research/surveys/Data Collections/Advocacy efforts 

• Treatment

The second strategy pillar lies in providing treatment services/healthcare services to DV survivors. This includes

1. Emergency Healthcare services
2. Emergency Helplines

• Counselling

The third strategy pillar lies in counselling the survivors to provide 2 kinds of support

1. Psychological Support
2. Legal Advisory Support

Therefore, we can tackle domestic violence aftermath following ACT Strategy by considering the 3 L’s role in the healthcare system. We can improve our mitigation strategies by incorporating these key points in our healthcare sector at primary & tertiary levels of healthcare service delivery.

References: 

1. Health care system. IAHPC Pallipedia. https://pallipedia.org/health-care-system/. Accessed October 28, 2023.
3. About the author
4. Ms. Seemab Mehmood is an MBBS student at Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Lahore,Pakistan. She has been serving as Chair-Elect of CUGH Trainee Advisory Committee and National Treasurer of  IFMSA-Pakistan. She has been a Co-author of 2 Anthology books. Not only that, but she envisions a world full of enthusiasm with a never-ending race of optimistic innovations. And being inquisitive, she loves her visuals to write, wrote and get them written. A curious mind that always strives for change within an ever-changing world.