Western Cape government launches Violence Prevention Unit

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The Western Cape provincial government has launched the Violence Prevention Unit in Delft as part of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children.

The unit involves the collaboration of government departments and non-governmental organisations.

It uses the public health approach to prevent violence.

Provincial Department of Health Chief Operations Officer, Dr Saadiq Kariem, says more reliable and immediate crime statistics are obtained from trauma centres of the public health system.

“The Department of Health and Wellness has been asked to facilitate the violence prevention because we often receive the impact that violence has on our emergency centres. We also have a lot of data and we have the capacity to be able to strengthen social protective factors. So, what we trying to do from the Department of Health is to coordinate that response to be able to proactively reduce violence and that’s why we are bringing a whole range of people together.”

Meanwhile, Western Cape Health Minister, Nomafrench Mbombo, says their systems are in place for the immediate reporting of violent crime trends.

The Violence Prevention Unit is modelled on countries like Columbia and Wales which uses data from health-care facilities to identify and design crime prevention interventions.

Premier Alan Winde provides more details about the unit: