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THRIVES: Using the best evidence to prevent violence against children

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Abstract

More than 1 billion children – half the children in the world – are victims of violence every year. As part of the Post-2015 sustainable development agenda, the UN has issued a global call-to-action: to eliminate violence against children. Essential to preventing violence against children is guidance to countries on using the best available evidence to address this problem. THRIVES provides this evidence. It represents a framework of complementary strategies that, taken together, have potential to achieve and sustain efforts to prevent violence against children. These strategies, which span health, social services, education, and justice sectors, include Training in parenting, Household economic strengthening, Reduced violence through legislative protection, Improved services, Values and norms that protect children, Education and life skills, and Surveillance and evaluation. For each THRIVES area, we review evidence for effectiveness and identify programmatic or policy examples. This framework will facilitate commitments to effective, sustainable, and scalable action.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30333, USA

    Susan Hillis

  2. Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    James Mercy & Howard Kress

  3. Division of Global HIV/AIDS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Janet Saul & Jessie Gleckel

  4. Division of STD Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Neetu Abad

Authors
  1. Susan Hillis
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  2. James Mercy
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  3. Janet Saul
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  4. Jessie Gleckel
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  5. Neetu Abad
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  6. Howard Kress
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Correspondence to Susan Hillis.

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Hillis, S., Mercy, J., Saul, J. et al. THRIVES: Using the best evidence to prevent violence against children. J Public Health Pol 37 (Suppl 1), 51–65 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-016-0003-6

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