WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has launched the ANIMA-AA Kit, a practical tool designed to support health care workers in identifying, responding to and supporting children and adolescents affected by violence.

PAHO said the initiative aims to strengthen frontline health services across the Americas, including the Caribbean, where violence remains a widespread and urgent public health challenge.

The United Nations (UN) agency said violence is highly prevalent in the region, and sexual violence is of particular concern, as it disproportionately affects girls. Among adolescents aged 15 to 19, one in five experiences physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner.

According to PAHO/World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, one in six girls is subjected to sexual violence before the age of 18, based on United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) data.

Child marriage, affecting one in five girls, further increases the risk of violence and adolescent pregnancy. Taken together, these figures highlight the scale of the problem and its significant impact on physical, mental, social and reproductive health.

PAHO said that the ANIMA-AA Kit was developed with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in response to a persistent gap: health workers are often the first point of contact for survivors, yet they frequently lack the training and practical tools needed to provide timely, appropriate and empathetic care.

The toolkit provides concise, accessible and easy-to-use guidance tailored to everyday clinical practice, with a particular focus on girls, who face heightened risks and greater barriers to being heard and accessing services.

“Health services can be a turning point in the lives of children and adolescents experiencing violence,” said Britta Baer, advisor on violence and injury prevention at PAHO.

“A compassionate, timely and non-judgmental response can mean the difference between continued harm and the beginning of protection and recovery.”

The ANIMA-AA model promotes first-line support as an essential health service and organises it into seven practical steps: attentive listening, non-judgmental validation, identifying and responding to needs, improving safety, offering support, creating child-friendly environments, and supporting caregivers — that is, those responsible for the child who are not perpetrators of violence and who may also need guidance and support.

Despite the high prevalence of violence, relatively few cases are identified within health services, pointing to a critical opportunity to improve early detection and response.

PAHO said that although thousands of cases of sexual abuse are reported each year in some countries, these figures remain well below estimated prevalence levels, reflecting limitations in the capacity of health systems to respond. Without timely identification and response, violence often continues and escalates, leading to more severe and lasting consequences.

The development of the ANIMA-AA Toolkit reflects a participatory process involving direct input from adolescents and young people across the region.