Locals urged to take gender-based violence seriously, as the Caribbean has the second-highest incidence in the world

Dr. Nicola Bird, executive director of the Integrated Health Outreach,
says that persons who are involved in violent acts and those

witnessing such acts should be proactive, especially when it relates
to gender-based violence. 

Dr. Bird says it is well known that anything that impacts other
people impacts us, as well, since it could have repercussions on our
children or other family members.

In particular, she says gender-based violence has a social impact on
the well-being of the Nation.

Accordingly, Bird says that all residents need to speak up and stand
up against this significant and pervasive social problem and take
action to create change in the lives of many women, children, and
even men.

According to Dr. Bird, the Caribbean region has the second-highest
rate of gender-based violence in the world on a per capita basis –
that is, based on its population size.

It was noted that 48 percent of Caribbean girls have admitted that
their first sexual experience was forced, Dr. Bird discloses. And one
in three women, as a global average, will experience some kind of
sexual abuse before she reaches the age of 18, she says.

Therefore, she urges the society to take gender-based violence very
seriously, since it is occurring everywhere and right here around us.