Since world leaders agreed to the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, significant progress has been made toward ending childhood deaths from malaria, tuberculosis, and other preventable diseases. Now it's time to get serious about another SDG: ending violence against children.
GENEVA – At the World Health Assembly in May, we made the case for why governments and United Nations agencies need to spend more on measures to prevent noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), injury, and violence against children. One of us – Zoleka Mandela – spoke of losing her 13-year-old daughter to a drunk driver, and of suffering sexual violence as a child at the hands of adults who should have been taking care of her. “It was an abuse of power, and it was a violation of trust,” she told the assembly. “It left me emotionally and mentally scarred. It led me to self-harm and to try to take my own life several times. It led to alcohol and drug dependency.”
GENEVA – At the World Health Assembly in May, we made the case for why governments and United Nations agencies need to spend more on measures to prevent noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), injury, and violence against children. One of us – Zoleka Mandela – spoke of losing her 13-year-old daughter to a drunk driver, and of suffering sexual violence as a child at the hands of adults who should have been taking care of her. “It was an abuse of power, and it was a violation of trust,” she told the assembly. “It left me emotionally and mentally scarred. It led me to self-harm and to try to take my own life several times. It led to alcohol and drug dependency.”