GDP's 2.05pc lost to domestic violence, says CARE study
Domestic violence costs 2.05 percent loss of Bangladesh's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) worth around Tk 15 crore annually, revealed a study of CARE Bangladesh yesterday.
The amount is equal to the sum spent by the government in the health and nutrition sector, said the study conducted on 483 such women victims from January to June last year in 24 villages of Dinajpur, Tangail and Sunamganj.
CARE Bangladesh, supported by USAID, organised the study's dissemination at a seminar titled “Domestic Violence Against Women: How much it costs to the Bangladesh society” at Journalism Training and Research Initiative (Jatri) conference room in the city.
The study's objective was to capture direct costs incurred by victims and perpetrator from an incidence of domestic violence, said speakers at the seminar.
They said the social impact of domestic violence is grave as it creates social instability, insecurity and gender disparity. But the economic impact is also immense, which remains unseen most of the time, they added.
It found that direct cost of violence is Tk 8,105 crore per annum including medical costs of the victim and perpetrators' family, filing cases and attending court.
Income loss of perpetrators and victims due to such violence costs Tk 5,978 crore per annum, including the time perpetrators evade police and serve jail.
The study also revealed that 81.2 percent married women experienced physical injury while 22.6 percent suffered permanent physical damage.
Julia Ahmed, team leader of Cost of Violence against Women (COVAW) project, presented the key findings while Project Director Tahera Yeasmin and Executive Director of Jatri Jamil Ahmed also spoke.
Though the government took various steps to eliminate violence against women and prepared a law last year, it should make the issue a national priority, said speakers.
A collaborative and concerted effort involving government, non-government and civil society actors is urgently required to prevent further violence against women and loss to the nation, speakers added.
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