International advocacy and evidence have been critical for shifting the pervasive issue of violence against women onto the health agenda. Guidelines and training packages, however, can be underpinned by Western principles of responding to individual survivors of violence and availability of specialist referral services, which may not be available in many countries.
Background Gender differences in child development have been extensively studied in high-income countries, but few data are available from low-income and middle-income countries. Our objective was to assess gender disparities in child development that might arise from differential investment in child health, nutrition, and education in six countries across the east Asia-Pacific region.