National burden of disease study examining the impact of violence against women

The study was, however, limited to the Victorian context and is now over 10 years old. Burden of disease is a modelling technique that combines multiple data sources to count and compare the total fatal and non‑fatal health loss from diseases and injuries in a population.

This national burden of disease study explored the health impacts of intimate partner violence across Australia. Being undertaken under Australia’s national burden of disease framework, it used an updated methodology developed since the 2004 VicHealth study and is based on contemporary international best practice refined to match the Australian context. The researchers for this study also included members of the research team from the Australian Burden of Disease Study (ABDS) 2011.

This project provides information on the amount of health lost due to death and ill health from intimate partner violence nationally, and provide estimates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. This work will contribute to population health monitoring, health and violence against women policy development, health service planning and research. The project developed specific recommendations on extending this type of study to other forms of violence against women (e.g., sexual assault and children victimised by violence experienced within their family in the context of violence against women).

The project provided evidence on a national scale about:

• what impact intimate partner violence has on women’s health; and
• how this impact can be measured for other forms of violence against women.