Community
13 December, 2024
Health service takes stance against violence
SOUTH West Healthcare is proud to participate in this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign in Victoria.
This year’s campaign encourages all Victorians to work together to prevent violence against women, with South West Healthcare focusing on giving victim-survivors a voice and presenting a unified message that gender based violence is not accepted or tolerated in our community.
South Western Centre Against Sexual Assault manager, Megan Bragonje, said the statistics regarding gender-based violence were alarming.
“More than one in four women in Australia have experienced intimate partner violence, with 22 per cent of women aged 15 years and over experiencing sexual violence,” Ms Bragonje said.
“Over 90 Australian women have lost their lives to violence this year, with an overwhelming percentage of these deaths allegedly perpetrated by intimate male partners.”
Ms Bragonj added that for aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, three in five women had experienced violence from a male intimate partner.
There were also 30 times more likely to be hospitalised for assault.
“Safety for women is not a given in any community and neither is respect,” she said.
Reports of family violence in the Warrnambool region have risen significantly from 2022-2023 with over 2045 reports being made.
Executive director of primary and community care, Kerryn Anderson, said gender-based violence was a significant public health issue in the southwest region and everyone had a part to play in preventing and eliminating violence against women.
A number of South West Healthcare staff participated in the local Warrnambool Walk Against Family Violence activities on Friday, November 22 as the 16 Days of Activism campaign commenced in Victoria.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. Violence against women is preventable and during this 16 Days of Activism and beyond, we have an opportunity to come together to progress a future where all Victorians are safe, equal and respected,” Respect Victoria’s chair Kate Fitz-Gibbon said.
“To eliminate men’s violence against women we need to address the harmful attitudes and behaviours that drive violence in society.”
