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J
ust
, P
e aceful
and
I
nclusi v e
S
ocieties
and expert meetings on these subjects. In addition, there are
several national awareness and media campaigns promot-
ing awareness against childhood violence in Saudi Arabia;
examples include the White Campaign, dedicated to raising
awareness about sexual abuse; the Shaken Baby Syndrome
Awareness Campaign for new mothers and the Anti-Bullying
Campaign during which the NFSP worked closely with the
Childhood Council from the Ministry of Education and
with UNICEF to devise a training package to be delivered
to teachers and supervisors in schools on how to deal with
cases of bullying and how to promote awareness on how
detrimental bullying can be, both long- and short-term. This
campaign also won an award at the World Women Summit
Forum (WWSF) in 2009.
Research studies
Research is an integral part of the NFSP’s commitment to
carry out its mission. Through this evidence-based approach,
it aims to reform national policy and programme develop-
ment. The NFSP has carried out several large-scale, national
population-based research studies that allow for identifica-
tion of the magnitude of the problems of child abuse, neglect,
violence and injury in the country. Examples are the ICAST
(ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool, CH version) study in
collaboration with the International Society for Prevention of
Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), and Adverse Childhood
Experiences (ACE) and their associations with Chronic
Disease and Health Risk Behaviors Study in collaboration
with the World Health Organization (WHO). The NFSP was
on the committee that developed the ACE questionnaire.
Both studies have been published in journals and are consid-
ered to be amongst the bigger national studies carried out in
the country.
Addressing the needs of different groups of the Saudi
population is necessary to ensure the well-being and safety
of all. Adolescence is often a forgotten age group, even
though adolescents constitute 20 per cent of the kingdom’s
population. There is a lack of indicators specifically address-
ing adolescents, not only in the kingdom but in the region.
In order to be able to provide the necessary apparatus to
promote the wellbeing of adolescents and youth, a national
study, “Our Generation” (
Jeeluna
) has been carried out in
which violence, injury and many other health risk behav-
iours have been addressed.
The Protect Us campaign led by the NFSP
Image: NFSP