If you have been abused or are afraid of someone, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline (link is external) at 800-799-SAFE (800-799-7233) or text “START” to 88788.

If you or someone you know are in a human trafficking situation, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline (link is external) at 888-373-7888 or text 233733.

Violence against women (VAW), including intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking, affects women of all ages, races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds and can cause long-term physical and mental health problems. Violence and abuse affect not just the women involved but also their children, families, and communities. These effects include harm to an individual's health, possibly long-term harm to children, and harm to communities such as lost work and homelessness.

OWH works to address both violence against women and human trafficking by providing resources, support, and funding for prevention programs, as well as offering critical services for survivors, with the goal of breaking the cycle of abuse and exploitation through education, legal support, and trauma-informed care.

Violence Against Women

OWH co-chairs a VAW steering committee and offers grants to support community-based programs and initiatives that work to prevent and respond to violence against women, providing critical funding for services such as crisis intervention, advocacy, and education.

Violence Against Women and Substance Use Prevention Initiative

The grant awarded six recipients in FY 2022 to address the intersection of IPV and substance use disorder (SUD) during the pregnancy and postpartum period by:

• Creating statewide pilot projects to train SUD treatment providers on IPV;
• Training providers to screen and address IPV and SUD among pregnant and postpartum women;
• Identifying, utilizing, and disseminating best practices for assessing and managing the co-occurrence of IPV and SUD in pregnant and postpartum women; and
• Integrating best practices for addressing both issues into medical perinatal and postpartum practices.

State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Partnership Programs to Reduce Maternal Deaths due to Violence

This cooperative agreement awarded 13 recipients in FY2021 to create statewide partnership projects designed to identify and reduce deaths among pregnant and postpartum women due to violence. This is being done by:

• Establishing or expanding programs that review, identify, and track maternal deaths due to violence in the recipient states;
• Implementing evidence-based interventions to improve outcomes and reduce deaths among pregnant and postpartum women due to violence; and
• Developing a sustainability plan for maintaining the program when the cooperative agreement award ends.

HHS Violence Against Women Steering Committee

The HHS Steering Committee on Violence Against Women (VAW) was established in 1996 to strategically focus departmental collaboration on the issue of violence against women and girls. Co-chaired by the Office on Women’s Health and the Family Violence Prevention and Service Act (FVPSA) Program with the HHS Administration for Children and Families and comprises representatives across HHS, DOJ, DOE, VA, and other federal agencies to:

• Build awareness and drive action through strategic information dissemination on emerging and urgent issues related to VAW;
• Identify and convene experts in VAW to elevate exemplary models, integrate domains of support, and foster and scale innovation;
• Create coordinated training and technical assistance to support and strengthen capacity and program delivery; and
• Leverage data analysis and evaluation findings to develop and disseminate responsive, evidence-informed solutions.

Human Trafficking

Violence against women and human trafficking are deeply interconnected, as many survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual abuse are at a heightened risk of being coerced or trafficked, with both issues requiring comprehensive support, prevention, and intervention strategies to break the cycle of exploitation and harm.

Human trafficking poses a significant threat to the safety, health, and well-being of women and girls. To address the increasing rates of human trafficking, the White House released the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking. The Action Plan is a comprehensive approach to address human trafficking, including actions to strengthen the prosecution of traffickers, enhance victim protection, and prevent crime from occurring within our borders and abroad.

In collaboration with the Administration for Children and Families Office on Trafficking in Persons (ACF/OTIP) and other federal agencies, OWH is committed to ending human trafficking in the U.S. We support survivors and organizations to address the negative health outcomes of human trafficking effectively.

HHS Task Force to Prevent Human Trafficking

OWH is collaborating with OTIP on the HHS Task Force to Prevent Human Trafficking, co-chaired by the Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Hild of the Administration for Children and Families. The Task Force facilitates the implementation of the priority actions HHS has committed to in President Biden’s action plan and strengthens HHS’ human trafficking prevention and intervention efforts with a focus on partnerships, equity, and data-driven approaches. The Task Force enhances existing anti-trafficking efforts and establishes new, innovative strategies that prevent trafficking and ensure the short- and long-term well-being of survivors. In February 2024, the Task Force released the National Human Trafficking Prevention Framework. This framework reflects research and best practices in violence prevention and health promotion, as well as the expertise of people who have experienced human trafficking and allied professionals. The Task Force also works to:

• Build the capacity of HHS divisions, programs, and regions to prevent and respond to human trafficking through coordination and information sharing;
• Initiate strategic opportunities to integrate human trafficking prevention and intervention through cross-division collaboration and jointly funded projects; and
• Leverage strengths, reach, and resources of health and human service programs to directly benefit individuals, families, and communities impacted by human trafficking and inform anti-trafficking policies and practices.

HHS Innovation Challenge to Prevent Human Trafficking Among Women and Girls

In consultation with OTIP, OWH has created the HHS Innovation Challenge to Prevent Human Trafficking Among Women and Girls, with plans to award organizations with innovative and effective programs preventing human trafficking and/or improving health outcomes related to human trafficking among women and girls, sustainable program practices, and the ability of the program to be expanded and/or replicated to identify existing innovative programs that address human trafficking prevention among women and girls in the United States. The competition has two phases:

• Phase 1 awarded prizes to 18 programs in 2024, based on their existing innovative and impactful approaches.
• Phase 2 will award prizes to up to 8 submissions based on the sustainability, replication, and expansion of their programs.

SOAR Training

OWH and OTIP developed the SOAR to Health and Wellness Training. SOAR—Stop, Observe, Ask, Respond—equips professionals with skills to identify, treat, and respond appropriately to human trafficking. Training is provided to anyone interested in learning how to recognize and respond to human trafficking in health care or social service settings. It is available both in person and online.

Questions about OWH’s work in violence against women can be directed to womenshealth@hhs.gov.

If you have been abused or are afraid of someone, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline (link is external) at 800-799-SAFE (800-799-7233) or text “START” to 88788.

If you or someone you know are in a human trafficking situation, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline (link is external) at 888-373-7888 or text 233733.