Objective:

To describe the behavior and health system response to gender violence in the department of Meta, Colombia.

Materials and Methods:

An observational cross-sectional study was designed with the reported sexual and gender violence in the department during 2015.

Results:

A total of 1,569 cases were studied. The average age was 20.7 years, most of them were women, 81.7%, 59.44% from lowincome status; they were housewives, 36.9% or students 20.72%. The most frequent offender was a young man (14-45 years) 67.18%, who had an affective relationship with the victim and cohabited with her. The highest occurrence patterns were physical violence 46.4%, abandonment-neglect 25.18%, and sexual abuse 24.16%. The most common aggressor mechanism was the short blunt weapon, 52.35%, and the most affected anatomical areas are the face, the neck and the hands, 36.3%. The most frequent place of aggression was the house, 73.4% and public places. Vulnerable population affected was evidenced including pregnant women and victims of armed violence. The health system operates in comprehensive care effectively but is limited to the attention of physical damage and does not active the attention route established, thus generating greater risks to the victim.

Conclusions:

A high incidence of gender violence was found being the risk factors: being a female, student or housewife, cohabitating, low income and low educational level. The health system must be involved in the comprehensive care of the event.

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