Health Affairs

Health Affairs, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.6.w1052 (Published online September 22, 2009) © 2009 by Project HOPE	New Online   Getting Health Reform Done   After the State of the Union   Incremental Reform   E-Health in Developing World   Most-Read Articles in 2009

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The Dangerous Shortage Of Domestic Violence Services

Radha Iyengar ^1* Lindsay Sabik ²

¹ Radha Iyengar is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics, London School of Economics.
² Lindsay Sabik is a graduate student in health policy at Harvard University in Cambridge.

^*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Domestic violence is a serious, preventable health problem affecting more than thirty million Americans annually, yet little is known about federally funded service provision. We used the National Census of Domestic Violence Services, an innovative victim-safety focused survey, to count services provided by more than 2,000 programs. During the twenty-four-hour survey period, 48,350 people used these services. The results show substantial unmet demand for services (10 percent of requests) because of resource constraints, particularly in rural, economically disadvantaged, and minority communities. Greater funding of domestic violence programs, particularly housing support, is likely to be a cost-effective public health investment. [>Health Affairs 28, no. 6 (2009): w1052-w1065 (published online 22 September 2009; 10.1377/hlthaff.28.6.w1052)]

Key Words: Consumer Issues, Health Promotion/Disease Prevention, Maternal And Child Health, Public Health

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