Gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic response in Italy

Gender-based violence (GBV), with one out of three women worldwide experiencing violence intheir lifetime, has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a "global publichealth problem of epidemic proportions" . During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the WHOand other international authorities have warned about the increased risk of GBV related to more timespent indoors, isolation from social and protective networks, and greater social and economic stress relatedto both the epidemic and response measures. We report here data from the Italian National Women's Network AgainstViolence, D.i.Re. The network collects data annually from anti-violencecenters which fulfill the Istanbul Convention minimum criteria for specializedservice providers.