Abstract
Overview: This article was prepared on behalf of the WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence Against Women Study Team. It summarises the results of standardised population-based surveys carried out between 2000 and 2003, in which women aged between 15 and 49 were interviewed about their experience with intimate partner violence and various symptoms associated with physical and mental health.

The study surveyed 24,097 women in 10 countries and the results indicated a significant association between poor health and the experience of intimate partner violence.

The paper concludes with suggestions for addressing intimate partner violence from national and global perspectives, and discusses the human rights breaches inherent in the perpetration of intimate partner violence.