Connecting Communities to Promote Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse—The RACSHA Initiative

Abstract

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is dishearteningly common in all societies and India is not an exception. Several methodologically robust epidemiological surveys have repeatedly affirmed the fact. Prevention of abuse is a societal prerogative, but it is an exceedingly complex task. Prevention of CSA needs synergistic, affirmative action by multiple stakeholders and cannot be addressed if individuals and organizations do not attempt to work in unison. A cursory review of the processes involved in protecting children from abuse in India paints a dismal picture of fractured services and absent coordination between health workers, teachers, social services, judiciary, and NGO’s. In India, the task of collaborative work to prevent CSA is made even more difficult by the fact that there is a culture of silence around the issues, which stifles conversation by invisibilizing the phenomena.