Gender-based violence (GBV) in Italian healthcare is a serious public health concern that affects both professionals and care delivery. According to the Osservatorio Nazionale sulla Sicurezza degli Esercenti le Professioni Sanitarie (ONSEPS), over 16,000 episodes of aggression were reported in 2023 alone, involving nearly 18,000 healthcare workers, most of them women. ISTAT data also confirm the scale of the problem, with 16,947 emergency department visits recorded among female victims of violence in the same year.
The economic and social burden is also striking: estimates by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) suggest that intimate partner violence alone costs Italy nearly €13 billion per year. Yet, underreporting remains a major barrier to visibility and action.
To support public awareness and institutional engagement, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) has disseminated project updates through a national press release and a recently published article in the Notiziario dell’Istituto Superiore di Sanità, ISS’s official monthly bulletin for scientific and institutional communication (here: https://www.iss.it/documents/20126/6683812/Progetto+europeo+BRAVE-WOW+violenza+di+genere+nei+contesti+sanitari.pdf/5bf9c3af-8697-7841-7f5f-f7ff460037e5?t=1752485821195).
The article explains how BRAVE-WOW contributes to tackling gender-based violence in healthcare, particularly in the Italian context. It outlines the project’s conceptual framework and describes how ISS, as Work Package 4 Leader, coordinates the pilot phase of the project, a complex intervention aimed at transforming workplace culture in selected healthcare facilities. The piece highlights the use of quantitative and qualitative tools, the involvement of healthcare professionals at multiple levels, and the importance of tailoring actions to local needs and organizational contexts.
By making this content accessible to a broader institutional readership, ISS and the Italian Task Force aim to promote reflection, encourage multi-level engagement, and help lay the groundwork for sustainable, evidence-based change across healthcare settings.
