Notifications of physical, sexual and emotional violence and neglect against children in Brazil, 2011-2019: an ecological time-series study

OBJECTIVE: To describe the temporal trend of notifications of physical, sexual and emotional violence and neglect against children in Brazil between 2011 and 2019. METHODS: This was an ecological time-series study based on notifications of violence against children aged 0-9 years held on the Brazilian Notifiable Health Conditions Information System. Age-adjusted notification rates were calculated for Brazil as a whole, by national macro-region and by sex. Trends were assessed using Joinpoint Regression. RESULTS: We analyzed 88,820 notifications of physical violence, 87,141 notifications of sexual violence, 52,359 notifications of emotional violence and 166,664 notifications of neglect. A rising trend was identified for notifications of physical, sexual and emotional violence and neglect for Brazil as a whole and for both sexes. Neglect accounted for the highest rate (95.24 notifications per 100,000 children in 2019). The Northeast and Southeast macro-regions had rising trends for all forms of violence. CONCLUSION: Notifications of physical, sexual and emotional violence and neglect showed rising trends in Brazil in the period studied.