As much as 28 percent of women population in Nepal have experienced physical or sexual violence or both by an intimate partner in their lifetime, according to a UN report.

A recent report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has revealed that the number came down to 14 percent when it comes to women reporting of violence by an intimate partner in the last 12 months. The study was carried out among women aged between 15 to 49 in 11,490 households across the country.

A global prevalence figures indicates 35 percent of women (1 in 3) worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or non-partner in their lifetime.

Intimate partner violence refers to behaviour by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours.

Violence can negatively affect women’s physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health, and may increase vulnerability to HIV, the report warns.

With such a large number of women globally suffering from VAW, voices have been raised on the need for countries to carry out their own prevalence data obtained from trained researcher to find out accurate numbers and how it has affected the society.

“Due to the fact that the perpetrators are people they know, women do not speak of the violence and such incidents mostly go unreported. Only a small percent is reported to police that is why we cannot solely rely on such administrated data to find the true extent of VAW,” said Henriette Jansen, an expert on VAW at UNFPA.

According to Jansen, surveys to measure violence against women are expensive and time consuming, but they are the only way to get such stories to count women who have experienced violence. “Yet we are all often too afraid to speak out to give these woman a voice,” she said.

For that collection of data must be done properly by interviewers and researchers with the right training to ensure that the women surveyed are safe and their confidentiality is respected.

Even though there is no specific data of consequence of VAW in Nepal, studies carried out across the globe have revealed that it has hampered the GDP, increased rates of infant and child mortality and morbidity, and make women unable to sustain their work and earn wages.

Violence also has a huge economic, social impact, the report points out. Witnessing violence as a child is an important predictor of whether men will use violence in adult relationships.

A research carried out in Vietnam revealed that women who experience violence earn 35 percent less than those who did not. Similarly, a similar study done in Fiji showed the country lost 7 percent of its GDP due to violence against women.

Violence against women has a profound and devastating impact on victims, communities and society as whole.

“To end violence we must understand it, and the factors that drive it. Based on these data, countries can make polices to combat VAW and design empowerment programmes to help the affected women,” said Renu Adhikari Rajbhandari, president of Women Rehabilitation Centre.