Maha Almuneef, MD, FAAP, CIC

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

King Saud Bin Abudulaziz University

ISPCAN Preconference

G16 CHILD ABUSE IN SAUDI ARABIA… BREAKING THE SILENCE

Maha Almuneef is a Saudi pediatrician, who did her pediatric training at the Children’s Hospital of Alabama at Birmingham, and her subspecialty training in Pediatric Infectious Disease at Yale, New Haven Hospital Connecticut, USA.  During her daily practice as General Pediatrician in King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh she encountered many cases of child abuse and neglect that were ignored by many specialists due to lack of knowledge in this field, fear of the society, religions, etc. 

Unfortunately, child protection was not a priority for pediatricians and related that to lack of policy and procedures at the government level to protect the physicians who diagnose and report the case. Dr. Almuneef initiated a SCAN Team back in 1999 to manage cases coming to hospital. This small multidisciplinary team was capable of increasing awareness, training and educational in the field of child protection. In November 2005 a Royal Decree was pursued to formulate a National program that is aimed at protecting all family members against abuse. National Family Safety Program (NFSP) is the only program in SA that deals with the subject of child maltreatment and neglect in order to set legislation, policies, laws and regulations aiming at child protection.  Since its initiation, NFSP funded many programs such as child abuse registry, child abuse centers in major hospital in kingdom, prompted research, and initiated a training program to all professionals working with children.