Survellience system for child abuse: Bridging the gap between actual and hidden cases

The dynamics of child abuse have been recognised as a global emerging social issue which is highly associated with child humiliation. The Government of Pakistan has taken many initiatives for addressing issues regarding child abuse and neglect and has designed laws to protect children against exploitation, abuse and violence; however, most of them are not enforced at all or poorly implemented due to lack of proper definition of child abuse and related terms, and different ways of reporting child abuse cases. Most of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Pakistan target extreme cases of child sexual abuse such as child rape or commercial sexual exploitation of children, but cases of physical and psychological abuse are underreported by the NGOs most of the time. A proper surveillance system is therefore required to identify the hidden cases of all types of child abuse that can lead to effective policy formulation and implementation.