MSF survey finds resources for Rustenburg rape survivors is lacking

16 August 2016 - 14:09 By Nomahlubi Jordaan

Not only is rape highly prevalent in the Rustenburg Municipality‚ but opportunities to reduce the more serious health impacts of the crime are being missed. That’s according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF)‚ who on Tuesday released a report that reveals that one in four women in the Rustenburg area is raped during her lifetime‚ yet 95% of women who were raped never told a medical professional about the incident.“In Rustenburg‚ approximately half of women surveyed had experienced some form of sexual violence or physical intimate partner violence‚” the reports says.“One in four women reported being raped in her lifetime‚ putting her at greater risk of HIV acquisition.“A higher proportion of women who had been raped reported being raped by a non-partner (72%) than a partner (59%)‚ but women who experience rape by partners tend to experience rape more frequently—two-thirds of women with partners had been raped more than once by their current partner.”According to MSF epidemiologist Sarah-Jane Steele‚ the findings show that rape is not only highly prevalent in Rustenburg Municipality‚ but that opportunities to reduce the more serious health impacts of rape are being missed.“Treatment and psychosocial counselling for rape survivors reporting within 72 hours can prevent HIV infection and unwanted pregnancy‚ and help to mitigate long-term psychological suffering‚” says Steele.“But the majority of women we interviewed don’t know such treatment exists‚ services close to where they live are sorely lacking and lack of financial independence may make access difficult even when services are present.”MSF’s survey found that‚ while 99 % of women know that rape can lead to HIV infection‚ other STIs‚ pregnancy‚ and injury:- Only 73 % of women knew that pregnancy could be prevented after rape;- Only one in two women (50%) knew that HIV infection could be prevented after rape; and- Less than half of women (45 %) knew that HIV treatment existed to prevent HIV infection after rape.MSF said the situation called “for a coordinated response from the South African government departments involved in responding to rape and sexual violence”‚ and “policies such as the next five-year National Strategic Plan for HIV‚ TB and STIs should monitor the financing and implementation of a patient-centred approach to sexual violence‚ both around Rustenburg and nationally”.In the North West‚ only 11 designated public health facilities - out of 783 total health facilities in the district – “provide post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent HIV‚ and support forensic examination for rape survivors”.MSF medical co-ordinator Dr Amir Shroufi says there is an urgent need for “a patient-centred approach to rape and sexual violence that prioritises the medical and psychosocial needs of survivors” and this would require “more trained staff and more widely available comprehensive services are needed”.“All rape survivors should receive access to comprehensive medical and psychosocial services to reduce the risk of contracting HIV and other infectious diseases‚ preventing unwanted pregnancy‚ addressing psychological distress and linking the patient to appropriate social support‚” says Shroufi‚ MSF Medical Coordinator in South Africa‚ “but that doesn’t diminish the importance for all survivors to also be given the option to undergo forensic examination and to pursue a legal response to rape”.The survey - Untreated Violence: The Need for Patient-centred Care for Survivors of Sexual Violence in the Platinum Mining Belt – involved more that 800 women aged 18-49. ..

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