Partner violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: an emergency into the emergency
Pietro Ferrara, MD 1 *
Luciana Albano, MD 2
Affiliation
1. Center for Public Health Research, University of Milano – Bicocca, Monza, Italy
2. Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples, Italy
* Corresponding author:
Pietro Ferrara
Center for Public Health Research, University of Milan - Bicocca
Via Cadore 48, I-20900 Monza, Italy
Phone +39 (0)39-2333097/8 p_ferrara@alice.it
To the Editor,
With interest, we read the publication by Jetelina and coll., titled “Changes in intimate partner violence during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA” [1], in which authors described changes in patterns of intimate partner violence (IPV) during lockdown restriction implemented in response to novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
Similarly in Italy, a significant increase of IPV cases was recorded as early as the first weeks of March, when social isolation forced people to stay at home after the rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Here, the government instituted the free phone number 1522 as help line for IPV victims, with the aim to reach mainly women, who always experience the greater burden of domestic violence and abuse [2]. The National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) rel...
Partner violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: an emergency into the emergency
Pietro Ferrara, MD 1 *
Luciana Albano, MD 2
Affiliation
1. Center for Public Health Research, University of Milano – Bicocca, Monza, Italy
2. Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples, Italy
* Corresponding author:
Pietro Ferrara
Center for Public Health Research, University of Milan - Bicocca
Via Cadore 48, I-20900 Monza, Italy
Phone +39 (0)39-2333097/8 p_ferrara@alice.it
To the Editor,
With interest, we read the publication by Jetelina and coll., titled “Changes in intimate partner violence during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA” [1], in which authors described changes in patterns of intimate partner violence (IPV) during lockdown restriction implemented in response to novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
Similarly in Italy, a significant increase of IPV cases was recorded as early as the first weeks of March, when social isolation forced people to stay at home after the rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Here, the government instituted the free phone number 1522 as help line for IPV victims, with the aim to reach mainly women, who always experience the greater burden of domestic violence and abuse [2]. The National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) released data on the utilization of the 1522 line from March to June 2020, highlighting an increase of 119.7% of phone and chat contacts compared with the same period of 2019 (6,956 vs. 15,280). The majority of registered calls were attributable to violence and stalking cases, followed by questions on type of service offered and modality of access [3]. Interestingly, the time-trend analysis of calls showed that their number diminished during the weekend days as well as in correspondence of religious and national holidays (such as Easter April 12th; Liberation Day April 25th; Labor Day May 1st), likely attributable to a more control over victims’ freedom of movements.
Alongside the Italian data, findings from Jetelina and coll. described an emergency into the emergency, being also more severe than that came out from presented research and report. Indeed, coverage of data informing on IPV are limited and potential reporting biases should be related to sparsity and uncertainty in rural and peripheral areas, where people are less prone to trusting the provided services [2].
In this frame, further research is needed to provide more accurate estimates of the burden of IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, in order to provide actionable metrics for the implementation of specific public health measures and social actions.
References
1. Jetelina KK, Knell G, Molsberry RJ Changes in intimate partner violence during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA Injury Prevention Published Online First: 01 September 2020. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2020-043831
2. James SL, Castle CD, Dingels ZV, et al Global injury morbidity and mortality from 1990 to 2017: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 Injury Prevention Published Online First: 24 April 2020. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043494
3. Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT). Il numero verde 1522 durante la pandemia (periodo marzo - giugno 2020). August 2020. Available at: https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/246557. Last accessed on September 3, 2020
4. Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT). L’allerta internazionale e le evidenze nazionali attraverso i dati del 1522 e delle Forze di Polizia. La violenza di genere al tempo del coronavirus: Marzo - Maggio 2020. Available at: https://www.istat.it/it/files//2020/05/Dati-del-1522-e-delle-Forze-di-Po... accessed on September 3, 2020
Partner violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: an emergency into the emergency
Pietro Ferrara, MD 1 *
Luciana Albano, MD 2
Affiliation
1. Center for Public Health Research, University of Milano – Bicocca, Monza, Italy
2. Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples, Italy
* Corresponding author:
Pietro Ferrara
Center for Public Health Research, University of Milan - Bicocca
Via Cadore 48, I-20900 Monza, Italy
Phone +39 (0)39-2333097/8
p_ferrara@alice.it
To the Editor,
Show MoreWith interest, we read the publication by Jetelina and coll., titled “Changes in intimate partner violence during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA” [1], in which authors described changes in patterns of intimate partner violence (IPV) during lockdown restriction implemented in response to novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
Similarly in Italy, a significant increase of IPV cases was recorded as early as the first weeks of March, when social isolation forced people to stay at home after the rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Here, the government instituted the free phone number 1522 as help line for IPV victims, with the aim to reach mainly women, who always experience the greater burden of domestic violence and abuse [2]. The National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) rel...