The World Health Organization (WHO) states that "Nearly 1 in 3 women — estimated 840 million globally — have experienced partner or sexual violence during their lifetime, a figure that has barely changed since 2000. In the last 12 months alone, 316 million women — 11% of those aged 15 or older — were subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner. Progress on reducing intimate partner violence has been painfully slow, with only 0.2% annual decline over the past two decades."

The Global Gender Gap Report 2024 shows that in India, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recorded more than 365,000 acts of violence against women in 2022. Of these, as many as 38% of the cases were cruelty by a husband or relative. These figures demonstrate the high likelihood of women facing violence within their own homes from spouses and relatives. Additionally, evidence from National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 (2020–21) indicates that women in rural areas of India experience a higher prevalence of domestic violence (DV) compared to women in urban areas, raising critical concerns about the ability of rural women to access timely and appropriate support.

In India, while institutional support services for women experiencing violence — such as One-Stop Centres, Bharosa Cells, legal aid, and counselling services — are available, these services are largely concentrated in urban areas. Women survivors of DV, particularly from rural settings, face multiple barriers in accessing these services, including limited awareness, restricted mobility, distance from service locations, and social and familial constraints. This underscores the urgent need to strengthen facility- and community-level responses within the public health system to bridge existing access gaps for survivors of violence.

Are women survivors of DV in rural areas able to have their safety assured during emergencies and crises? MASUM–CEHAT's Udaan Project, implemented in collaboration with the District Health Department, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, seeks to bridge this critical gap by improving women survivors' access to support services through community health workers, particularly ASHAs. In one such case, with the help of a community health worker, the survivor was able to safely leave her marital home in a crisis — highlighting the critical role of strengthened facility and community-level responses in ensuring safety for rural women.

At a rural Sub-Centre located in the Udaan Project's intervention block, the community health worker (ASHA) was able to address one such survivor's needs. The survivor, 30, married a couple of years ago, was seen hiding in a far corner of the Sub-Centre looking terrified and disturbed. The woman's disturbed state alerted the ASHA about the need to provide help.

Accordingly, the ASHA persisted in talking to the woman and making her open up. The ASHA was able to gain the survivor's trust and learned about the physical, mental, and emotional abuse her alcoholic husband was perpetrating. The woman had no children so far. The woman perceived a threat to her life at her marital home and was unwilling to go back there. Instead, she wanted to return to her parental home which was some distance away. However, she did not have her parents' contact number. It was with the ASHA's efforts that a local relative's name was obtained after talking to the survivor at length. In the absence of the local relative's address and contact number, the ASHA had to enlist the support of certain community contacts in the village to trace the local relatives. These relatives in turn had the contact information of the survivor's parents. The survivor's parents were duly contacted and the woman was able to call her parents on phone. The parents were able to reach the Sub-Centre within a few hours and, in the interim, the survivor was taken care of in terms of treating her injuries, providing her with food, and emotionally supporting her in this crisis situation.

Although told about options like the Bharosa Cell for joint counselling and the Sakhi Centre which provides shelter, the survivor preferred to inform her parents. The ASHA had provided her information on the services of a Protection Officer as well.

After the arrival of her parents, when they learned about the spousal abuse, they immediately wanted to lodge a police complaint against the abusive husband. Even in this regard, the ASHA was able to provide necessary contact information and even accompanied the family to lodge a complaint.

This demonstrates that with proper training and capacity building, the health facility, its staff, and community workers affiliated with it — can play a vital role in response to DV and provide the safe space that a DV survivor can access in crucial times.