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March 2016Vol. 17, No. 1Child Maltreatment as a Public Health Problem

A factsheet developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides an overview of child maltreatment as a public health concern. The factsheet reports the number of deaths that occur as a result of child maltreatment and defines the four common types of child maltreatment: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Also addressed are factors that contribute to child maltreatment, ways to prevent child maltreatment, and the approach CDC uses to address child abuse prevention.

Understanding Child Maltreatment is available on the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention website at http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/understanding-cm-factsheet.pdf (193 KB).   

Related Item

The Children's Bureau recently released Child Maltreatment 2014, the latest in its series of annual reports featuring data provided by the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Systems. Access the report at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/child-maltreatment.