Action plan to stop violence against children in Ukraine
Developing a national action plan to stop violence against children in Ukraine
04-03-2019
Published by World Health Organisation
Supporting the development of a national action plan to stop violence against children, WHO held a policy dialogue on 6–7 February 2019 in Kiev, Ukraine. The policy dialogue enabled key health actors and policy-makers to jointly set the course for the development of a national action plan. The plan will serve to strengthen national action to achieve the SDGs in eliminating all forms of violence against children.
The policy dialogue brought together over 40 participants, including the government (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, Office of the Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children’s Rights, Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and other state agencies), as well as colleagues from the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, UNICEF Ukraine and NGO experts.
Upon reviewing the results of Ukraine’s national situation analysis on violence against children to assess the opportunities and constraints in the prevention of violence against children, participants dived into high-level discussions on the development of a national action plan based on the WHO technical package INSPIRE. “INSPIRE: seven strategies for ending violence against children” is an evidence-based tool that supports countries in their efforts to prevent and address violence against children aged 0–17 years and identifies strategies that have shown success in reducing violence against children.
Ukraine is one of the countries in the European Region committed to the prevention of violence against children. As part of the Biennial Collaborative Agreement between the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and WHO, a survey of adverse childhood experiences among university students in Ukraine was conducted in 2017 to assess the prevalence of child maltreatment. In December 2017, the results of the survey were discussed and disseminated, which resulted in a commitment to hold this policy dialogue to stop child maltreatment and to develop a national action plan.
From dialogue to action
Following the policy dialogue, an expert working group was convened to further discuss the implementation of INSPIRE. The experts discussed and identified resources and programmes on how each of the 7 INSPIRE strategies can be implemented in the Ukrainian context. The following actions have been identified:
- Finalize the Ukraine National Situation Analysis to assess gaps and opportunities for the prevention of violence against children;
- Develop a policy document to identify and map out programmes and resources needed to implement INSPIRE; and
- Develop a national action plan to strengthen intersectoral actions in the prevention of violence against children.
Adverse childhood experiences and health-harming behaviours among students in Ukraine (2018)
Handbook on developing national action plans to prevent child maltreatment (2016)
INSPIRE: Seven strategies for ending violence against children
INSPIRE: Seven strategies for Ending Violence Against Children
Investing in children: the European child maltreatment prevention action plan 2015–2020
European status report on preventing child maltreatment (2018)
