The child’s body as a receptacle of physical violence: analysis of epidemiological data from VIVA/SINAN

ABSTRACT The high incidence of physical violence against children and adolescents in Brazil points to the urgent need to develop public policies to address and prevent the problem. The present study is characterized as a descriptive epidemiological study of time-series, based on secondary data obtained from the Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN-NET, in Portuguese) and TABWIN system. The highest rate of domestic physical violence refers to girls aged 10 to 14 years (248 per 100 thousand inhabitants). In relation to male children and adolescents, the age group with the highest rate of physical violence is from 0 to 4 years (232 per 100 thousand inhabitants). The indigenous population has the highest rates of violence in all regions. Father and mother are the most frequent aggressors (41.13% and 39.84%, respectively). The present study identified that boys are more susceptible to physical domestic violence in childhood and girls in adolescence. The age group that is most affected by physical domestic violence is 0 to 4 years old. The races that are most affected by violence are indigenous and brown. Most of the times, violence happened at home.