Year: 1999
Type: editorial
Abstract: Violence-in its various forms and manifestations-is undoubtedly one of the issues of greatest importance in the Americas and of highest concern to governments, civil society, and international organizations.Violence is affected by multiple political, economic, and cultural factors that have irreparable consequences for individuals, families, and different population groups.Violence undermines the sustainable development of nations and the foundations of democratic institutions.Because of its complexity, the issue can be overwhelming.Several decades ago, Martin Luther King, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, asserted on violence: "We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but we have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers."In this special issue of the Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/Pan American Journal of Public Health, researchers from the Region of the Americas and from Spain look at physical violence between persons and contribute to understanding it from the perspective of the behavioral sciences.Their work describes the results of the Multicenter Study: Cultural Norms and Attitudes Toward Violence in Selected Cities of Latin America and Spain (the ACTIVA project) and enumerates proposals and initiatives to address the problem.The ACTIVA project, an inter-American collaborative initiative between the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and research centers in seven countries, was carried out in accordance with a new plan for international partnership in public health research.In one of the articles in this issue, R. de los Ríos describes the project's basic principles.PAHO identified institutions and researchers, established coordination among them, and contributed the technical cooperation and financing needed to develop the study protocol, field test a questionnaire, review and compile databases, and disseminate the results.The researchers secured the funding for data collection and analysis in their individual cities as contributions from different local institutions, which made it possible to launch and carry out such a large undertaking.Seven cities in Latin America and one city in Spain participated in the project: Rio de Janeiro
Authors: Pamela Orpinas, Rebecca de los Ríos
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Harvard University
OpenAlex ID: W2010673191