Joint-effort to give care for people living in violent situations

Created in 2001, Red Illuminar aims to reduce levels of violence, especially sexual violence, in the municipality. It delivers training to health professionals, the National Guard, and teachers in the municipal school system, and holds seminars on violence prevention and a culture of peace. Its intersectoral approach is based on an understanding of violence as a public health issue with multiple causes rather than just a legal or criminal matter. The network fosters collaboration among the health, education, public security, and social welfare sectors, along with civil society and universities. It offers comprehensive care for victims—with the goal of delivering care within 72 hours of an act of violence—and provides support services for children, teenagers and men. It works through a network of teams of professionals to help break the cycle of violence and create a safe environment for victims. 

Meets the criteria established under Health in All Policies:

• Political commitment. It enjoys a political commitment at the highest levels of Campinas municipality and the state of São Paulo.
• Separate structure. Red Illuminar is an inter- institutional and intersectoral committee that operates as a network and meets on a bimonthly basis.
• Participation of other sectors. Other sectors besides health participate in this initiative, including the municipal secretariats for health, social assistance, education, public safety, transportation, and women's affairs. Universities such as PUCC and UNICAMP are part of the network, along with NGOs, the Council of girls and women's rights, social movements and public safety agencies.
• Separate budget. Red Illuminar has its own funding. The network received start-up funding for training and procurement of equipment. The Ministry of Health allocates funding to the network for equipment, training, educational materials, and communications (videos, brochures, etc.). The network does not require additional resources, since its goal is to implement public policy by improving coordination among existing services.
• Focus on reducing inequity. While the initiative serves the population as a whole, its priority is womenand girls in situations of vulnerability with regard to gender-related violence and/or sexual, domestic, or emotional abuse
• Intersectoral work in action. Intersectoral policies and actions, as well as the support of federal, state and municipal services, are critical to the network's ability to provide physical and mental health care and social services to women and girls as well as to male victims of violence.
• Public policy. Red Illuminar contributes to the design of public policies for health. There has been a noticeable paradigm shift towards addressing violence from the standpoint of public health rather than as a matter exclusively for the police and legal system. The network has contributed to the production of information and the implementation of public policies to address situations of violence. A network based approach facilitated the integration of additional care and protective services for the population served.
• Scientific evidence of results. Red Illuminar has an internal evaluation process in place that includes bi-monthly monitoring. External evaluations include technical visits to the network's health professionals and target areas.
• Social participation. Two members of the municipal health council are involved in planning activities and designing health surveillance objectives.