A public health approach to violence reduction: Strategic Briefing

Violence is a major problem for many countries around the world, including the UK. Not only can violence devastate the lives of those directly involved, but it also adversely impacts the lives of family members, friends and the wider community. Well-resourced and holistic public health approaches have the potential to generate significant and lasting reductions in violence. To do so, however, they require the buy-in and engagement of a range of organisations working together to tackle drivers of violence at societal, community, relationship and individual levels. This strategic Briefing distils the core features of public health approaches and explains their potential for reducing violence, outlines how system leaders can ensure they play their part in creating and implementing public health approaches to violence reduction, and explores some of the potential problems and possible solutions associated with public health approaches.