International policy dialogue on youth and knife violence
WHO/Europe and the Department of Health of England jointly organized this dialogue, supported by the Department of Health, which brought together 35 policy makers, researchers and practitioners from eight countries working in the area of youth and knife violence in different settings.
Presentations were made on the scale of knife violence in youth, on risk factors and on interventions to share experience from Europe, USA and South Africa. Participants agreed that strategies to prevent youth violence involving knives and sharp weapons should focus on broader approaches to youth violence prevention and not solely on weapon carrying.
Risk factors for youth violence include a poor family environment, poor relationships, social inequities and deprivation, alcohol and drugs misuse and societal attitudes to violence.
Knowledge about effective interventions needs to be widely disseminated and actively promoted, targeting policy-makers and their advisors. There is a need for greater evaluative research with more widespread use of violence outcome indicators.
Effective programmes promoted as the six best buys for violence prevention included: parenting programmes and promoting life skills, social skills training, reducing access to and misuse of alcohol, decreasing access to lethal means, tackling social norms which reinforce the use of violence and gender norms, programmes to promote gender equity and equity generally in communities.
The meeting established a working group of experts to take forward the writing of the report on youth and knife violence, which is planned to be presented at the London 2010 Safety Conference, scheduled for September 2010.
Background
The UK has shown great commitment and considerable progress in the field of violence prevention, which is integrated within public health policy and is at the forefront of action from other sectors too. Violence prevention has been indicated as one of the priorities for collaboration between WHO/Europe and Department of Health of England. The report on youth and knife violence is being developed in the frame of this collaboration.
