THE GLOBAL HEALTH BURDEN OF RAPE

Women's rights to be free from male violence are now recognized by the United Nations as fundamental human rights. Two parallel transformati ons in the understanding of rape have been central to the internationa l effort to achieve this declaration. The first is increased recogniti on of the extent to which rape typically involves intimates. The secon d is the shift from regarding rape as a criminal justice matter toward s an appreciation of its implications for women's health. The focus of this paper is the health burden of rape, which is addressed from the global perspective and includes discussion of its prevalence and psych ological, sociocultural, somatic, and reproductive health consequences . Quantitative efforts to capture the relative economic impact of rape compared to other threats to women's health are also discussed. The p aper concludes with an agenda for future research on rape that could e nrich activists' efforts on behalf of women's health and development.