Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and a chance to focus attention on a problem affecting women in developed and developing countries alike
"I remember thinking 'someone's going to have to hand me another mirror because this one is totally broken.
"And I just wanted to smack it in my face and just cut my face open and tear the whole thing off."
Model Katie Piper's recent harrowing reflection on her horrific acid attack - ordered by an ex-boyfriend after he had beaten and raped her – is one of the more shocking stories seen in the UK media this year.
The attack - in London in broad daylight in March 2008 - left her blind in one eye, unable to eat from damage to her throat and in need of more than 30 corrective operations.
She is one of three million women who experience rape, domestic violence, forced marriage, trafficking, or other violence each year in the UK.
One in three women worldwide will be victim to some form of violence in their lifetime.
DFID remains committed to improving gender equality as the best route to reducing poverty and achieving our Millenium Development Goals, particularly improving maternal health.
Today, the Home Secretary Alan Johnson will launch a cross-departmental strategy for tackling violence against women in the UK.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "Violence against women and girls is an obscenity.
"That is why we are taking action to bring perpetrators to justice and protect and support victims, but also to challenge the attitude that attacks on women and girls are in any way acceptable.
"A fair and responsible Britain has no place for violence of any sort."
Universal problem
But the problem is a universal one.
Violence against women takes many forms: in conflict and non-conflict areas, sexual and domestic abuse, so-called "honour" killings, trafficking and female genital mutilation.
Despite decades of support and interventions to tackle this problem, levels of violence against women continue to increase. In South Asia, one in every two women faces violence in her home.
More political will and resources are needed, but root causes must be tackled too.
The international community has for many years given its support to women who are victims of violence; to changing laws and policies; working with the police, supporting women's organisations.
These are all important, but we need to also change attitudes and behaviours around how women and girls are treated in society.
Men have to be part of the solution and not seen only as the problem or the perpetrator.
That's why DFID's work in South Asia is finding innovative ways to involve men and boys in gender equality programmes and policies in a a bid to prevent violence.
Promoting equal status for women there will have dramatic results for the health of children – estimates say the number of overweight children would drop by more than 13 million.
Literacy for women in South Asia is 52% compared to 73% for men and women form only 37% of the region's labour force; their work is largely unpaid and exploitative.
DFID's Gender Policy Fund, launched in 2009, is designed to boost work across the region in three key areas: gender violence, nutrition and women's employment.
It will support work to reduce gender-based violence by changing behaviour and attitudes between men and women, while encouraging governments, civil society and multilateral partners such as the World Bank to give more to tackle the problem.
One programme – with the Acid Survivors Fund (ASF) – will see DFID help increase awareness of acid attacks and provide medical, financial and psychological support to survivors.
Jim Drummond, Director of DFID's South Asia Division said: "Today we are delighted to announce the first of our three programmes supported by this regional fund.
"The UN Partners for Prevention Programme is one of the few really joint UN programmes in Asia set up specifically to tackle gender-based violence by working with boys and men.
"It was set up last year, following a review of the evidence by the UN Secretary General that the indicators on violence against women are increasing, not decreasing, despite decades of investment and support in this area."
A DFID-supported, ten country study in 2005 found that 12% of women suffered violence during pregnancy.
Maternal mortality in South Asia is around 500 per 100,000 live births but in Afghanistan, it is 1,800 per 100,000.
Basic schooling is another changing casualty of gender violence.
Girls who are victims of violence at school drop out and it may affect their chances of getting a place to start with.
In Malawi, a DFID-supported study in this area found close to one in five girls has been sexually assaulted and one in ten raped or subjected to attempted rape.
DFID has prioritised work on gender violence in the White Paper, Building our Common Future, that is bringing results across the developing world.
Under the Taliban sending girls to school in Afghanistan was illegal but there are now two million girls enrolled in school.
Empowering those women in countries where they may have no choice – including who they marry – is central to DFID's ambitions.
In Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tanzania, for example, DFID has backed the supply of microfinance and financial services to more than 600,000 women.
On a multilateral level, DFID continues to support the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which is 30 years old this year.
Specifically, the UK has supported developing country partners to change civil society and push for laws protecting women in Brazil, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana, among others.
In developing countries, DFID is working hard to ensure the best possible progress is made to liberate and empower women to overcome the spectre of violence; to take control of their futures and move their countries forward out of poverty.
Key facts:
In Nigeria, DFID has given £26 million to fund a girls' education programme in six northern states boosting enrolment by 15% in one year.
Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan have the lowest primary school enrolment rates for girls. In Bangladesh, less than two thirds of children complete five years of basic education.
India accounts for one fifth of maternal deaths globally.
40% of Afghan women are married before the age of 18, and one third of them having had children by then.
In Nepal, DFID's support has given priority to girls, Dalits and children with disabilities. Primary school enrolment is now 90% and nearly 50% are girls.
DFID has also helped to immunise 88% of children, and as a result, child mortality has reduced by 40%.
