A new Violence Reduction Academy to help tackle interpersonal violence in London has been launched, with the aim of bringing together practitioners and experts from different sectors to improve wellbeing in our communities and provide a health-orientated, partnership approach to reducing violence in society. The NHS-QMUL initiative will build an evidence base by mapping existing interventions within health and social care, and evaluating the success of these interventions in reducing harm. This evidence will enable the academy to share best practice for reducing violence, and support the health system to implement appropriate initiatives across the capital.
Violent injuries carry a huge burden of trauma on the UK population, with around 1.5 million assaults each year and an estimated cost of £28.9 billion. Young people and women especially bear the brunt of violent injury, and it is known that violence carries social determinant, meaning some people are more likely to be violently injured than others.
WIPH academic joint leads on the project, Heather McMullen, Sania Shakoor, and Mark Freestone said: 'We are really pleased to be working with the NHS on this important topic. We see violence as an acute expression of health inequalities, and a public health response is pivotal to prevention. We look forward to working collaboratively with partners and communities, to better understand the evidence and support action to improve health outcomes for young people affected by violence.'