Domestic Violence and Women's Well-being in Malaysia: Issues and Challenges Conducting a National Study Using the WHO Multi-country Questionnaire on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women

AbstractThe World Health Organization (WHO) and member countries, through the World Health Assembly Resolution 49.25, acknowledged violence against women as a serious public health issue. It is also a serious social issue and a “shameful” violation of human rights. However, many countries, particularly those in the developing world, still lack good, comparable, national data on violence against women. In Malaysia, there is “a dearth of comparable data”, on the prevalence, nature, causes and consequences of violence (WHO 2005, 3). To fill the gap in the data, a country level study has just been conducted in Malaysia using the WHO multi-country questionnaire which was adapted and validated. This paper reports on the national prevalence study titled “A country level study of women's well-being and domestic violence against women”. This is the first country wide prevalence study to provide comparable data on the status of gender based violence against women in Malaysia as well as on their general well-being involving the three major ethnic groups in the country. In this quantitative study, the cross-sectional population-based household survey approach was utilised, involving 3215 women from Peninsular Malaysia. The data were analysed using Epidata and SPSS software. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of the findings with an emphasis on the importance of conducting national research on domestic violence against women. It will also draw attention to the importance of building knowledge about domestic violence against women and its prevention to support and inform national efforts to create a safer society for girls and women. The use of the tool will also be illustrated with examples drawn from the findings of the research. The nature of the topic means that issues such as ethical and methodological challenges, issues of safety, confidentiality and interviewer skills and training are critical for this research. This paper will highlight some of those challenges and some of the lessons learnt