HCM City (VNA) – Instead of having to go to many places to seek support,women and children who are victims of violence just need to go to a one-stopmodel for women and children located at Hung Vuong Hospital in Ho Chi Minh Cityfor medical care, and psychological and legal counselling.

The model, the first of its kind, made its debut on March24, and will be piloted from now to 2026.

It will perform its functions of receiving, screening,treating, consulting, and providing on-site services to patients who are womenand children subject to violence and sexual abuse.

If an emergency shelter is needed, social workers of HungVuong Hospital will refer victims to the City Centre for Social Work -Education and Vocational Training for Youth, located at 14 Nguyen Van Baostreet, Ward 4, Go Vap district, for care and nurture, therapeutic interventionand access to other essential services on demand.

Le Van Thinh, Director of the municipal Department ofLabour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that the pilot implementation of theone-stop model at a health facility is an unprecedented solution in Vietnam.

Experience in responding to gender-based violence shows thathealth facilities are often the first places to which patients of different agegroups, professions and backgrounds go to.

The one-stop shop model is a safe destination, a place tointervene, help, and provide essential closed and suitable service packages foreach victim in the area, added Thinh.

The National Survey on Violence against Women in Vietnam in 2019 shows thatnearly two out of three women (nearly 63%) experience one or more forms ofphysical, sexual, emotional, and economic violence as well as controllingbehaviours caused by their husbands or intimate partners in their lifetime.

However, 90% of the women who experience sexual and/or physicalviolence perpetrated by their husbands do not seek any assistance from theauthorities.

Elisa Fernandez Saenz, UN Women Representative in Vietnam, said that the launch of the model is a result of the tireless efforts ofstakeholders in Ho Chi Minh City during the past few years, aiming to provide acoordinated multi-sectoral essential service for women and children subject toviolence by meeting their aspirations and needs.

UN Women is committed to continuing to join hands with the cityin the coming time to make the model pilot a success, she said, expecting thismodel to serve as a basis for its duplication nationwide./.