CHITRAL: The consultative workshop on ‘Gender-based violence (GBV) as a public health issue’, held here on Wednesday, underscored integrated and coordinated approach by different government and non-governmental agencies to effectively contain the growing suicide tendency among women in Chitral.

Held under the aegis of Aga Khan Foundation Pakistan under its Foundation for Health & Empowerment (F4HE) project, the workshop was attended by the representatives of the departments of health, education, social welfare, prison, municipal administration, police, district administration and civil society organisations.

The trainer of the workshop, Qudsia Mehtab Mehmood, elaborated the essence of GBV with particular reference to the ground situation in Chitral and said that it was the need of the hour to take it as a public health concern of severe nature.

She said that the aim of the consultative workshop was to provide a forum to the departments and organisations to discuss existing challenges and gaps in health system responses to GBV, strengthening coordination among them for prevention and response as well as identifying actionable recommendations.

Gender-based violence highlighted as public health issue

The participants worked out on the existing issues and challenges and formulated a number of recommendations to address the issue as a health concern in Chitral where many local dimensions had made matters worse, resulting in the growing number of suicides.

The working groups identified the need of awareness in the society about the fundamentals of GBV and came out with a solid mechanism to address the issue and provide instant and easy relief to the survivors.

The chief guest of the session was Lower Chitral DC Muhammad Hashim Azim, who appreciated the holding of a consultative workshop on the vital issues of GBV, which has plagued the society at large.

Addressing the participants, he said that the district administration was already making earnest endeavors to resolve different social issues including the GBV for which a full-fledged unit was being established.

He said in the special curriculum being prepared by the district administration for the students of primary classes in the district all types of social and environmental issues were to be portrayed in a lucid and appealing manner ultimately, making the children think positively.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2025