Violence Prevention in Public Health
Violence is an urgent public health problem.
It affects people across all stages of life.
It includes but is not limited to gun violence, suicides, intimate partner violence, youth violence, and child abuse & neglect.
Many of these forms of violence lead to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) which are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood through youth.
The more ACEs you have is correlated with negative physical and mental health.
I just wanted to mention this.
In 2021, CDC reported there were 26,031 homicides and 20,958 of those being from a gun in the US.
There were also 48,183 people who died of suicide with 26,328 of those resulting from guns.
The US has more than double the number of guns owned than the next country, Yemen (US 120.5 vs Yemen 52.8 per 100 residents).
In 2020, Suicides were the 12th leading cause of death for all ages.
For ages 10-14 and 25-34 years, it was the 2nd leading cause of death and the 3rd leading cause of death for
the 15-24 age group.
There is ~1 death every 11 minutes due to suicide with
1 million+ people attempting suicide in the last year.
Despite the uptick in gun suicide and murder rates in the US, it still remains past highs from the 1970s.
1 in 4 women experience intimate partner violence.
1 in 9 men experience intimate partner violence.
Similarly, 1 in 7 children experience child abuse and neglect in the last year. Which is likely underreported. In 2020, child abuse & neglect resulted in 1,750 child deaths.
While there are many intersectional issues relating to violence prevention.
All approaches should be tailored to be culturally sensitive and address the problem from many facets.
There is a great need for more public health interventions & advocacy to reduce the violence that is present in the US.
Support The Public Health Millennial
Links and Further Readings:
- Violence Prevention from APHA
- Morbidity and Mortality Week Report (Suicide)
- Assault or Homicide Data
- What the data says about gun deaths in the US – Pew Research Center
- National Statistics Domestic Violence Facts
- How many US Mass shootings have there been in 2023 – BBC News
- Suicide Data and Statistics by CDC
- Suicide by National Institute of Mental Health
- Child Abuse and Neglect by CDC
- Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program
- Cure Violence
