Violence against Children Surveys: Towards a Violence-Free Generation

A first step in preventing violence is better understanding its magnitude, nature, and consequences. Violence against Children Surveys, led by CDC as part of the Together for Girls partnership, measure physical, emotional, and sexual violence against girls and boys. We work with countries around the world to do these surveys to help them guide programs and policies to prevent violence before it starts.

An estimated 1 billion children—half of all the children in the world—are victims of violence every year. Violence is connected to many public health problems and makes people vulnerable to other health problems. Findings from VACS provide reliable evidence to enable countries to make better decisions about allocating limited resources to develop, launch and evaluate violence prevention programs and child protection systems.