Preventing Violence, Caring for Survivors

Violence, health professions and services are intimately related. Violence produces physical and psychosocial trauma severely affecting health. Survivors of violence almost invariably come in contact with the health system, those injured seek health care and those who die undergo post mortem. Caring for survivors, medical records and forensic reports are crucial elements not only of health care but also for investigating violence and getting justice. And yet, amidst increasing violence and discourse on it, the health consequences of violence and the role of health profession and services are rarely paid serious attention. Preventing Violence, Caring for Survivors, brings together for the first time a collection of presentations, essays and reports examining such aspects of health and health care in violence perpetrated by the State agencies, in the caste and communal violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and women in prostitution. Doctors, activists and other professionals, active in the national and international human rights and health organizations have contributed to the volume. The emphasis is on the rights of the survivors and victims, also on the ethical responsibility of health profession to recognize violence as a health issue; the need to empathise and care for them, to guard against siding with the perpetrators and aid in getting justice by using the medical and forensic records. Making a radical departure, it also brings under the spotlight, the violence perpetrated by the health care system and the process of development on the patients and vulnerable people. In the process, the volume provides a framework in which the conscious and ethical health professionals and services can, while caring for survivors, play a crucial role in preventing violence.