Digital public health: a hopeful strategy to tackle the surge in domestic violence
Authors: Deepthika Jeyaraman, Joht Singh Chandan
Journal: The Lancet Public Health (2020)

Christopher Murray and colleagues1Murray CJL Alamro NMS Hwang H Lee U Digital public health and COVID-19.Lancet Public Health. 2020; 5: e469-e470Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (27) Google Scholar described some timely and valuable applications of digital technology in aiding prevention, surveillance, and management of COVID-19 during the current pandemic. However, we wish to highlight that such applications of digital public health measures must be broader than the epidemiological management of COVID-19. Such novel technologies can be applied to other concurrent public health crises, such as the so-called shadow pandemic of violence against women and girls.2UN WomenViolence against women and girls: the shadow pandemic.https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/4/statement-ed-phumzile-violence-against-women-during-pandemicDate: 2020Date accessed: August 11, 2020Google Scholar In particular, increasing rates of domestic violence following COVID-19 protective measures involving social restrictions are a clear signal for policy makers to adopt a public health approach centred around improving domestic violence surveillance and to deliver evidence-based remote interventions, while face-to-face options are limited.3Chandan JS Taylor J Bradbury-Jones C Nirantharakumar K Kane E Bandyopadhyay S COVID-19: a public health approach to manage domestic violence is needed.Lancet Public Health. 2020; 5: e309Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (99) Google Scholar There has been promising evidence for remote strategies that are designed to improve the detection (using online screening tools and hidden mobile-reporting apps) and management (through safety decision aids and delivery of remote psychotherapeutic sessions) of domestic violence.4Emezue C Digital or digitally delivered responses to domestic and intimate partner violence during COVID-19.JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020; 6e19831Crossref PubMed Scopus (42) Google Scholar, 5Rempel E Donelle L Hall J Rodger S Intimate partner violence: a review of online interventions.Inform Health Soc Care. 2019; 44: 204-219Crossref PubMed Scopus (27) Google Scholar, 6Anderson EJ Krause KC Meyer Krause C et al.Web-based and mHealth interventions for intimate partner violence victimization prevention: a systematic review.Trauma Violence Abuse. 2019; (published online Nov 19.)https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838019888889Crossref Scopus (26) Google Scholar Many of these options are low cost and have the potential to be used in low-income and middle-income countries. Detection of domestic violence can be enhanced through such methods, alongside nationwide improvements to the electronic recording of domestic violence in routinely collected health-care data, similar to existing syndromic surveillance systems for infectious diseases. Despite the optimism associated with adopting digital approaches, there are also important concerns about the widespread adoption of such technologies to combat complex public health challenges such as domestic violence.4Emezue C Digital or digitally delivered responses to domestic and intimate partner violence during COVID-19.JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020; 6e19831Crossref PubMed Scopus (42) Google Scholar Digital technologies could provide opportunities for control and coercion from abusers, if access to the apps is compromised. However, novel interface-level security measures that are being applied to mobile and web-based apps are providing hope in mitigating some of the described risk posed by these apps.4Emezue C Digital or digitally delivered responses to domestic and intimate partner violence during COVID-19.JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020; 6e19831Crossref PubMed Scopus (42) Google Scholar Policy makers wishing to adopt a public health approach to combat domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond should consider making use of the available digital technologies to support case identification, surveillance, and delivery of interventions for domestic violence survivors. However, before adopting these technologies, there is a need to continue the development of security measures to ensure the safety of domestic violence survivors and to provide support for research to continually assess the efficacy of these remote approaches. We declare no competing interests. Digital public health and COVID-19Digital public health refers to the use of technology, new types of data, and new ways of working that come with digitisation of public health and associated data. Data have been central to public health ever since John Snow used maps and case reports to identify the Broad Street pump as a source of cholera in London in 1854.1 Even today, data are just as central to public health, and digital technology provides new ways to collect data through efficient administrative interfaces, sensors, and non-traditional sources such as social media; new ways to link different data sources to generate new insights; and new ways to visualise and analyse data. Full-Text PDF Open Access