The Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women, sponsored by the World Health Organization, between 2000 and 2003 collected data from over 24 000 women in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Thailand, and the United Republic of Tanzania. The Study assessed women's experiences of violence using a questionnaire developed and validated for cross-cultural use, with a special focus on violence by intimate partners. It also investigated how such violence is associated with ill-health and injury, and the strategies that women use to cope with the violence.

In Brazil, the Study was carried out by a research team including members from: the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Public Health, University of São Paulo; São Paulo Feminist Collective for Sexuality and Health; SOS Corpo, Gênero e Cidadania Recife, Pernambuco; and the Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Pernambuco. Data collection in the field took place in 2000 and 2001.