A health’s view on violence

Violence is the intentional use of physical strength or power, actually or under threat, against oneself, someone else, or against a group or community, which results or has a high probability of resulting in injury, death or psychological damage, bad development or deprivation(1).In Brazil and in the world, a lot is told about violence, which is present in various forms in everyday life, whether in the country or in urban area. Cities have grown without proper planning, people have migrated, generating unsatisfied social demands in the large centers, television has invaded home and modified people’s thinking in great extension, families have loosen moral principles, governments do not set good examples...Therefore, violence has spread into all aspects of life, revealing itself in economics (exploitation of man by man, state coercion, material dependence, discrimination against women’s work, child labour, unfair impositions etc.), in politics (control by one or various parties, authoritarianism, exclusion of citizens from decision-making, revolution, war and armed conflict etc.), in ideology (implementation of official criteria, prohibition of free thought, censorship, manipulation of public opinion, advertisements and issues of violent nature), in religion (submission to clerical interests, strict control of thought, prohibition of other beliefs and persecution of “heretics”, etc.), within the family (exploitation of women and children etc..), in education (teachers and principals authoritarianism etc.), in the army (unquestioning obedience to commanders etc.), in the culture (excluding innovating trends, prohibiting publication of works, bureaucracies, etc.)... (2)It is health’s responsibility dealing with people affected by physical or psychological violence, in hospitals, ambulatory facilities or clinics... As researches in health are responsible for statistical data consolidation. In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its first report on violence and health, achieving a comprehensive review on the matter of violence (what it is, whom it affects and how to deal with it), bringing a closer look at the issue, which haunts governments of all countries(3). Since then, violence has advanced through the governmental and social sphere, onto its intersection with health, either in the resultant presented by mortality and morbidity indicators, or in the costs given rise by the public network of medical psychological and hospital support to the victims of violence, and also in the contribution for preventive strategies.The fact is that society