The Health System and the Cure Violence Model to Prevent Violence

• In Event: Roundtable: The Health Approach to Violence Prevention

Abstract

A group of over 80 health experts representing more than 15 of our most violent cities across the nation has gathered under the leadership of Former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, Dr. Al Sommer of Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Gary Slutkin of Cure Violence/University of Illinois at Chicago. The group intends to fundamentally change the discourse on the approach to violence from the paradigm that understands violence as moral corruption or human failing that applies punitive strategies to address the issue to one that includes an understanding and addressing of violence as a health problem – a contagious epidemic. In the United States, violence claims an enormous $450 billion toll and nearly 60,000 lives annually. A health response to violence prevention offers a solution to the devastating and destructive effects of all forms of violence, stabilizing families and communities in a healthy manner- moving the nation towards equity. The presentation will discuss what a comprehensive system should look like to prevent violence and how this approach is essential to reducing inequities. The Cure Violence Model will be highlighted as an example of the health approach in action. The Model is based on decades of work in the prevention of other infectious diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and cholera and has been piloted, tested and honed for the past 15 years to effectively reduce community violence. The elements of this solution include establishing a system of detection and interruption of ongoing conflicts; identifying and changing the thinking of the highest risk; and using community norms and social pressure to prevent the use of violence.

Author

• Shannon Cosgrove, University of Illinois at Chicago