When I talk with people about our shared interests in ending violence against women, I often point to healthcare. After all, lots of people are passionate about healthcare — from costs to access and lots in between. Those same people may not think of violence against women as their issue. Yet, one way to address high costs of healthcare is to prevent intimate partner abuse from happening in the first place. That’s because intimate partner abuse is linked with a host of health problems — including asthma — even years after the abuse ends. Imagine if we could prevent health problems like asthma (and related costs) by preventing abuse in the first place.
Bringing attention to links between asthma and intimate partner abuse was top of mind when Dr. Eileen Wang and I wrote about new research findings for a piece published today in The Conversation.
And with the close of October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month, translating that research into action is also top of mind.
So I invite you to give the article a read. And then use it. Use it to show someone in your life who cares about healthcare that violence against women matters to them, regardless of their gender or their own life histories.
Because we can drive down the costs of healthcare and improve health across the United States if we address the problem of intimate violence, together.
Read our piece in The Conversation here.
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And for more on transforming awareness into action, check out Every 90 Seconds: Our Common Cause Ending Violence against Women, available from Oxford University Press or:
Trauma Research Notes 