Honour based violence as a global public health problem: a critical review of literature

Purpose : 'Honour' Based Violence (HBV), a form of Gender Based Violence (GBV), has received increasing interest from media, human rights organisations, academics and public. A significant increase in the occurrence and reporting of HBV in many parts of the world and its detrimental impact on health and wellbeing of women, girls, communities and wider society; marks it a major public health concern. However, awareness and recognition of HBV in field of public health is low in many countries and there is little known about its nature, roots and distribution. Aim : The aim was to analyse existing literature to understand what is HBV; how it is understood, its nature and distribution. Methods : The literature was searched using the Scopus database and a series of search terms related to HBV, gender based violence and health and wellbeing. Findings : Definition of HBV and its forms is varied across cultures. There is a lack of consensus on how HBV can be identified over other forms of violence and no explicit theoretical perspectives have been sufficiently developed to deepen our understanding of HBV. Although findings from the review suggest that HBV forms and patterns may be regionally distinct, causes emanate from gender based and socio-economic inequalities. Value of findings : Findings from the review highlight the complexity of tackling HBV in a globalised world. Findings also provide insights on how public health model can be used to analyse causes and prevention of HBV. Further, a non-culturalised, unprejudiced and inclusive definition is required to flag-up and record HBV cases. Keywords : Honour-based violence, female genital mutilation, gender-based violence, public health, honour killing