GENEVA, Nov 24 (AFP) - Urgent action is needed to tackle domestic violence against women, which is widespread, deep-rooted and largely hidden in a wide range of societies, a study by the UN health agency said Thursday.
The study conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 10 countries found that between 15 percent (Japan) and 71 percent (Ethiopia) of the women interviewed had been subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate male partner during their lifetime.
For about one-fifth of "ever-abused" women in Ethiopia to more than half in Peru, the violence was severe enough to result in physical injury.
In many instances, the interviewers conducting the study discovered that it was the first time the women had been able to talk about their partner's violence, while in some societies the victims accepted it as "normal".
The study "challenges the perception that home is a safe haven for women by showing that women are more at risk of experiencing violence in intimate relationships than anywhere else," the WHO said.
It called for "urgent action" by health athorities, community leaders and governments, warning that the cost to society, individuals and health systems was "enormous".
High rates of sexual abuse experienced by girls and women -- ranging from six percent in Japan to 59 percent in Ethiopia -- were "particularly alarming" in the midst of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the study underlined.
It also slated the high degree of emotional abuse of women, warning that overall physical and mental violence had a far deeper and durable impact than the immediate harm it caused.
"It has devastating consequences for the women who experience it, and a traumatic effect on those who witness it, particularly children," the UN special rapporteur on violence against women, Yakin Erturk, said.
"It shames states that fail to prevent it and societies that tolerate it," he added.
The study covered 24,000 women in selected areas or cities in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Tanzania, and Thailand.
Wide differences were found between prevalence of violence in Japan and in largely provincial or poorer settings such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru and Tanzania, although the outcome was the same.
"Partner violence appears to have a similar impact on womens health and well-being regardless of where she lives, the prevalence of violence in her setting, or her cultural or economic background," said researcher, Charlotte Watts, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
More than three quarters of women in urban areas in Brazil, Japan, Namibia and Serbia said there was no reason for the domestic violence, but that dropped to about one quarter in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru and Samoa.
At least 20 percent of the women reporting physical violence had never told anyone before being interviewed, while the others were more likely to confide in friends or family than approach medical staff or authorities.
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