bangalore while india and the us may be worlds apart on the development index theres little difference on one front domestic violence us consul general jennifer mcintyre who on monday visited wilson garden maternity home where a study is on to track domestic violence against women said i find no difference between the us and india when it comes to domestic violence the only way is to educate the public terming domestic violence an epidemic spread across borders mcintyre said genderbased violence is a global issue that cuts across borders no society is immune to its pernicious effects one in three women around the world experiences some form of genderbased violence in her lifetime and in some countries that number is as high as 70 added mcintyre the research triangle institute us in collaboration with bbmp and st johns research institute has taken up soukhya a project against domestic violence it involves nurses in the citys bbmp maternity homes who collate data on domestic violence which their patients are subjected to when they come here for antenatal and perinatal checkups so far 400 women have been screened the project includes a mobile application which the nurses use to record data about domestic violence experienced by women patients not just from husbands but also their families at the health centres selected for the study data about each woman is fed into the mobile application which is developed by dimagi inc the nurses have been trained to use the application through which they can protect the rights and identities of the women this facility is available in 113 bbmp health centres the us agency for international development usaid recently announced a 500000 grant for the implementation of soukhya the team is led by dr suneeta krishnan a social epidemiologist attached to research triangle the womens suffering is traced by the nursing staff who have been trained to spot signs of violence our team offers counselling and legal help to the affected women and makes them aware of their rights said dr suneeta said