Lack of training limits support for women' victims of violence
Lack of training limits support for women' victims of violence
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite the rising awareness in the community toward violence
against women, health workers remain unqualified to deal with
such cases due to their lack of education and an absence of a
proper referral system.
Speaking on Thursday at a workshop on the roles of health
centers and social workers in assisting female victims of
violence, researcher Ririn Habsari said that the workers did not
even know how to identify or treat victims.
Ririn recently conducted research at two reproductive clinics
and a public health center in Jakarta.
She found that, most of the time, health workers did not
record the injuries properly, despite the fact that this was
vital if the perpetrator was to be convicted.
"The status card simply does not accommodate this issue," she
said.
Even when victims openly acknowledged that they had been hit
by their husbands, the workers often did not follow up on it.
"They still put the blame on the wives," Ririn said.
After listening to the battered women, the workers were
usually confused as to where to refer them, said Ririn.
The head of the Ministry of Health's sub-directorate for prime
age health, Trisnawati, confirmed the problem. She remained firm,
however, that public health centers' role should be limited to
identifying and referring the victims, and not counseling.
"One of the problems is that even though the victims are
referred to local general hospitals, many of those facilities do
not have a special center for victims of domestic violence yet,"
she said.
Currently only 32 hospitals, of which 16 are in Java and Bali,
have special centers for domestic violence.
In 2002, the ministries of health, social affairs, the office
of state minister for women's empowerment and the police signed
an agreement to provide integrated services for children and
women who become victims of domestic abuse.
"We have run pilot projects in 12 public health centers and
four regental hospitals in eight provinces since then," said
Trisnawati.
The public health center observed by Ririn was among those
participating in the pilot projects.
To overcome the problem, the health ministry plans to develop
modules and hold training seminars for health workers about
treating and counseling the victims. The project is expected to
finish in 2005.
"We have a very limited budget and other pressing issues,
including birth control," said Trisnawati.
In the meantime, the ministry plans to set up teams of
facilitators for 19 provinces this year to replicate the pilot
programs in regional hospitals.
"We hope that all provinces can implement the programs using
their own budgets," said Trisnawati. She added that violence
against women was still regarded as one of the lesser priorities
in the health sector.
According to data from the National Commission on Violence
Against Women, there are 134 special assistance rooms for abused
women and children, which are run by the police, and 137 crisis
centers for women developed by non-governmental organizations
across the country.
The commission recorded 5,934 cases of violence against women
in 2003, of that number, 46 percent were cases of domestic
violence. This number is widely believed to be the tip of an
iceberg, as many victims fear that reporting their cases would
create more problems in their already troubled lives.