title: Using an emergency response infrastructure to help women who experience gender-based violence in Gujarat, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Many women who experience gender-based violence may never seek any formal help because they do not feel safe or confident that they will receive help if they try.
  
  
  METHODS
  A public-private-academic partnership in Gujarat, India, established a toll-free telephone helpline - called 181 Abhayam - for women experiencing gender-based violence. The partnership used existing emergency response service infrastructure to link women to phone counselling, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government programmes.
  
  
  METHODS
  In India, the lifetime prevalence of gender-based violence is 37.2%, but less than 1% of women will ever seek help beyond their family or friends. Before implementation of the helpline, there were no toll-free helplines or centralized coordinating systems for government programmes, NGOs and emergency response services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In February 2014, the helpline was launched across Gujarat. In the first 10 months, the helpline assisted 9767 individuals, of which 8654 identified themselves as women. Of all calls, 79% (7694) required an intervention by phone or in person on the day they called and 43% (4190) of calls were by or for women experiencing violence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite previous data that showed women experiencing gender-based violence rarely sought help from formal sources, women in Gujarat did use the helpline for concerns across the spectrum of gender-based violence. However, for evaluating the impact of the helpline, the operational definitions of concern categories need to be further clarified. The initial triage system for incoming calls was advantageous for handling high call volumes, but may have contributed to dropped calls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Alway Building M121, Stanford, CA 94305, United States of America (USA).
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Newberry
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Alway Building M121, Stanford, CA 94305, United States of America (USA).
authors.forename: Swaminatha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahadevan
authors.affiliation: GVK Emergency Management Research Institute, Hyderabad, India .
authors.forename: Narendrasinh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gohil
authors.affiliation: GVK Emergency Management Research Institute, Hyderabad, India .
authors.forename: Roma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jamshed
authors.affiliation: GVK Emergency Management Research Institute, Hyderabad, India .
authors.forename: Jashvant
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prajapati
authors.affiliation: GVK Emergency Management Research Institute, Hyderabad, India .
authors.forename: Gv Ramana
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Alway Building M121, Stanford, CA 94305, United States of America (USA).
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strehlow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D055818:Public-Private Sector Partnerships; D013689:Telephone