In this article, I examine the impact of approaching the issue of gender-based violence in a way that is a health concern that the health system needs to address by “daring to ask’. I am aware of the potential for the daring to ask method, but I claim that asking for help has consequences and that we must be aware of their effects.

Peer Revie unintended effects of public health interventions, and explores strategies to deal with them, offers a productive approach to engage in such an analysis [15, 16] In this article my goal is to initiate the possibility of examining this issue and provide a rationale for the need for it. To do this, I follow 4 research inquiries:

I) Is GBV an issue for public health? 2.) Do healthcare providers have the authority to be proactive about it? II) Daring to ask is the best way the healthcare system is supposed to be responding to GBV? The central interconnected question is: (iv) Which are the implications of addressing GBV as a public health issue which the healthcare system must tackle by daring to ask?

Utilizing a critical public health perspective and drawing on my own research about the health system’s response towards GBV in Spain and a research project where we study the ‘dare to ask’ approach within the workings of health services for the social in Sweden and also important work on gender-based violence, public health and health, to offer, while not final solutions, but rather, interim and partial responses that might allow further investigation. The research findings are relevant theoretically and conceptually. Its transferability isn’t restricted to a specific geographical setting as it is based on not just empirical research, but also theoretic research. Names and concepts are crucial and intricate in the subject of gender-based violence (see Boyle [17] and Frazer & Hutchings [18] for a comprehensive discussion of the subject). In this article, I decided to focus on the term gender-based violence (GBV) since I believe it broad enough to cover all the kinds of violence I am referring to, as well as because it concentrates on the root causes of violence (gendered relationships and structures). However, I am aware that the majority of studies and protocols pertaining to health system responses deal with intimate partner violence as well as gender-based violence. Both constitute a significant part, but are not the only forms of violence in the wider range of GBV.

Are GBV an issue for public health? What are the consequences of treating GBV as a public health issue?

In the field of public health we are focusing on issues that affect a significant portion of the population or are distributed in a different way. We are particularly interested in studying how social variables (such as race, class or disability) affect the health of people and their access to services [15 and 16[15, 16]. Health care is highly politically and visionary. According to Frances Baum, the new public health policy is not just to improve the overall health of the population as well as to create a world that is fair and equitable [1515.

From these perspectives, GBV qualifies as a public health concern. It is, for one, widespread and widespread. Over the course of her life 1 in 3 women, which is around 736 million women around the world, are subjected to sexual or physical violence from intimate partners or sexual violence by an unrelated partner, and this rate has remained relatively steady over the past 10 years [19 20, 1921. Second, GBV damages health and well-being. It’s linked to many health issues; to mention only a few that it can increase the likelihood of developing sexual and reproductive health issues and mental health issues chronic illnesses, and even deaths. Additionally, the negative effects of violence persist over time, even when the violence ceases [3, 20, 2123. In the third place, GBV can be distributed in a way that is unjust unjust, unfair and inequitable. Intimate partner violence affects women more severely than men, and feminist theorizing has provided enormous amounts of evidence supporting that patriarchy, sexism and gender inequities are at the root and perpetuates.

To comprehend the omnipresence in GBV it is essential to look at the intersection of gender and other forms of oppression. trans women as well as women who have disabilities, migrant women younger women, as well as race-based women are all at greater danger of being victims, and are more prone in obtaining support [3 19, 19].