The initiative, which is supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Malaysia, takes a multifaceted approach to violence prevention by educating communities on the causes of domestic violence, how it can be identified, the effect it can have on a community and how members can work together to stop it.

Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud, the Selangor exco member in charge of health, welfare, women and family empowerment, said at the launch of the initiative near here that “in the past, there have always been awareness programmes, but people are now aware, so the next question is ‘what do we do?’”

The initiative, she said, connects “all the agencies through the grassroots, so now at least people can know who to contact, what to do and where to go”.

Melissa Akhir, capacity building director for WAO, said this would be the first programme to link all the domestic violence resources together to create “a one-stop crisis shelter and a one-stop centre for rights”.

She said support would be offered for each step of the process, from accessing police help, to getting treated at a hospital as well as counselling and assistance.

WAO has also engaged with healthcare facilities to ensure there are accessible avenues for those affected.

The initiative brings together the women, family and community development ministry as well as the health ministry in developing a roadmap to eliminate domestic violence.

The pilot programme, which starts in Kajang, aims to expand to the rest of Selangor and eventually across the nation.

WAO said this development has been especially timely, as their records showed that at the onset of the movement control order (MCO), the number of calls to their domestic violence hotline spiked to more than triple their pre-MCO numbers.