IOM Forum on Global Violence Prevention

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This proposal responds to a request from the National Institutes of Health. The Board on Global Health of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) will continue to convene a Forum on Global Violence Prevention in which NIH will participate with other Federal and non-Federal agencies, organizations and Foundations. Background and Need Preventable violence represents a major global public health problem. As a cause of disability adjusted life years lost (DALYs), in 2001 both self-inflicted injuries and violence ranked among the top 20 categories globally accounting for 20.3 and 18.9 million years of life lost, respectively. Most of this burden is in low and middle-income countries. To complement traditional and expensive criminal justice approaches, the power of public health, prevention oriented approaches to reducing violence are increasingly becoming evident. Epidemiologic risk factors for violence can be identified and preventive interventions targeted and iteratively improved to address child abuse, youth violence, sexual and intimate partner violence, elder abuse, collective violence, and self-directed violence. To create a stronger and more effective multi-disciplinary, multi-sector al community empowered by the most current knowledge and insights, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies established a Forum on Global Violence Prevention. The scope of the Forum has placed particular emphasis on low and middle-income countries. The Forum is composed of 26 appointed individuals drawn from a range of US and foreign governmental agencies, international organizations, academia, foundations, and affected industries. Two times a year, it has convened public expert workshops on a range of cross-cutting global violence prevention issues. These events have brought together around the Forum membership the world¿s leading violence prevention authorities for the purpose of illuminating aspects of the problem and evolving solutions. Forum workshops to date have focused on the following topics: Violence Against Women and Children; Social and Economic Costs of Violence; Contagion of Violence; Communication and Technology for Violence Prevention; Evidence for Violence Prevention Across the Lifespan; and Elder Abuse. Proceedings have been summarized in a series of workshop reports and have been disseminated widely. Topics under development for the continuation of the forum include those of current interest to NIH, such as alcohol and other drug-related violence and the effects of gun violence on health and mental health. With continued work on violence, the forum will be able to reach its main goal: As a result of several years of repeated, high-level exposure to the possibilities for improved violence prevention through public health approaches, the expected outcome will be an increasingly energized and Technical Proposal Page 2 NAS Proposal 10001727 diverse community of funders and other agents for action informed by cutting edge scientific evidence.