Optimising the UK health sector response to tackling violence against women and children

Question How can we optimise a public health approach to violence against women and children (VAW/C) to improve health outcomes, reduce inequalities, and enhance trauma-informed care delivery? Background VAW/C is a global public health crisis, affecting one in three women and over one billion children. Survivors face lifelong physical, mental, and reproductive health challenges, yet healthcare systems often fail to adequately address their needs. Despite growing emphasis on trauma-informed care, critical gaps remain in understanding the true burden of violence, designing effective prevention strategies, and embedding survivor voices in decision-making. This proposal, aligned with the Women's Health Strategy, addresses these gaps by tackling epistemic injustice, advancing knowledge of long-term consequences and optimising trauma-informed approaches. Leveraging existing NIHR infrastructure and innovative digital tools, it aims to drive transformative change in healthcare and public health. Aims This research aims to transform healthcare responses to violence against women and children (VAW/C) by integrating survivor perspectives into decision-making, advancing understanding of the burden and costs of violence, and delivering trauma-informed care. Methods This programme is structured around four interlinked work packages: Integrating the voice of survivors into healthcare decision making: 1) Focus groups to explore setting specific barriers to inclusive survivor engagement in research/optimal methods for recruitment and sustainability, 2) Work with policymakers to map opportunities to engage survivors and create a best practice framework for engagement, 3) Pilot survivor engagement in decision making processes & 4) Evaluation of survivor panel success and impact.? Quantifying the healthcare and economic burden: 1) Integrate, link and analyse datasets from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), criminal justice, healthcare, and social care systems into the West Midlands Secure Data Environment to map the burden of violence, 2) Integrate findings into the Global Burdens of Disease framework, & 3) Update economic modelling to estimate the cost of inaction. Trauma-Informed Healthcare: 1) Update evidence syntheses of existing trauma informed approaches, 2) Local evaluation of the adoption of trauma informed care in maternity settings & 3) Co-develop a trauma informed approach to be rolled out into other clinical settings. Timelines The five-year programme will commence with the establishment of survivor panels and dataset integration (Year 1). Epidemiological analyses and intervention development will take place in Years 2-3, followed by pilot implementation and evaluation in Years 4-5. Outcomes will continuously feed into policy recommendations. Impact and Dissemination This research will provide actionable insights to reduce health disparities and improve care for survivors of violence, supported by novel trauma-informed frameworks and survivor-led interventions. Findings will be disseminated through high-impact publications, conferences, and policy briefings to organisations like the WHO, NHS England, and Women's Aid. This programme of work will also help me take a stepwise transformation and become an independent global leader in this field.