Rome, 1 March 2024 – The S.O.S. LEI Anti-Violence Centre of the A. Gemelli IRCCS University Hospital in Rome reports on its first year of activity. Created thanks to a partnership between WINDTRE, the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital Foundation IRCCS and the Assolei Association, the centre is located within the Percorso Donna (Women’s Pathway) of the Gemelli Emergency Ward, and is open to all women who have suffered violence or abuse.

A summary of the main intervention data is provided below. Since 2 March 2023, the S.O.S. LEI Anti-Violence Centre has handled over 425 telephone calls and over 195 in-person encounters, and 61 women have been taken-in and provided with legal assistance and/or mental health care to help them escape the violence they have suffered. The 12 specialised operators at Assolei APS, who manage the Gemelli AVC, offer reception services free of charge, both by telephone and in-person. S.O.S. LEI is also managed in full compliance with the guidelines of the Lazio Region and the State-Regions Agreement of 2014.

The Centre can be accessed through a dedicated entrance located outside the Emergency Ward of the Gemelli Hospital, and is open to all women who have suffered violence, guaranteeing assistance on a daily basis and in complete confidentiality. The Centre is open Monday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and on Wednesday afternoons from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., with 24-hour phone assistance available at the number +39 320-346-4044, which can also be contacted by SMS text message and through WhatsApp. For the other days of the week, reception and counselling are available at the other Assolei locations, thus ensuring the availability of services, even in-person, all throughout the week for women who come to the Hospital seeking assistance.

In 2023, 120 women were victims of homicide in Italy, most of which resulted from domestic violence: in more than half of the cases, the perpetrator was the victim’s current or former partner, as reported by the Ministry of the Interior.

Just a few months after the S.O.S LEI Anti-Violence Centre was opened at the Gemelli Hospital, the Response to Gender-based Violence committee (RiViGe), of which several experts at the Gemelli Hospital are members, was also set up to promote interventions and activities aimed at preventing violence in general. The RiViGe committee has two objectives: the first is to rework the procedures for handling cases of violence, and to train the hospital staff so that every professional is able to provide patients with appropriate support. The second, long-term, objective, is to raise awareness and provide education on the issue.