An overview of violence and sexual abuse in children: Global data, policy responses, and multidisciplinary approaches in health care

Abstract

News of sexual abuse against children is increasingly common. This paper aims to describe the historical and social progress of sexual violence against children through a narrative review of the literature, with the goal of understanding how health systems deal with sexual violence against children, as well as to identify the costs to society and to children's personal lives. The history and latest global and national data on sexual abuse against children are presented, revealing that violence against children is emerging as an endemic threat worldwide, resulting in serious social and health problems, with higher prevalence in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. In these higher-resource countries, understanding and detecting what is abuse and what is not abuse in a given situation is supported by a multidisciplinary team, involving professionals from different sectors. Thus, it is important that all actors be enabled to articulate their actions, working with the goal of safeguarding well-being and development of children.