Medics Against Violence

Medics see the outcomes of violence every day of their working lives. Many of the injuries they see will leave permanent scars, some physical, some psychological. Almost all are preventable.

In a bid to reduce the numbers of people they saw on their operating tables as a result of meaningless violence, three Scottish surgeons, Christine Goodall (an oral surgeon), Mark Devlin and David Koppel (maxillofacial surgeons) decided to set up Medics Against Violence (MAV).

Officially launched in November 2008 at the Southern General Hospital Glasgow by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Nicola Sturgeon and the Minister for Justice, Kenny MacAskill, MAV’s first initiative focused on reducing youth violence. Hundreds of young people across Scotland have now received inputs by MAV, with medics going into classrooms to talk to them  first hand about the outcomes of violence, all on a voluntary basis.

MAV have also developed a domestic abuse initiative, whereby dentists are trained to spot the signs of abuse and support victims towards reporting.

MAV works in partnership with the VRU and was affiliated with the WHO Violence Prevention Alliance in 2008.

Find out more about MAV at www.medicsagainstviolence.org.