Sexual violence: health services needs improvement

A recent report issued by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) indicates that comprehensive medical and forensic care is not widely available to survivors of sexual violence in South Africa.

The report‚ issued on Tuesday‚ says that nearly three-quarters of public health facilities in South Africa designated to provide services to survivors of sexual violence are unable to provide all the components: medical‚ clinical and forensic.

The findings said an additional 7% of designated facilities reported that they don’t have the capacity to see victims‚ and would refer them elsewhere.

“Although the Department of Health (DoH) has designated 265 public healthcare facilities across all provinces to provide services for survivors of sexual violence‚ 85% of designated facilities are hospital based‚ and 56% rely on doctors for conducting forensic examinations‚ which could result in long wait times for survivors‚” said Dr Amir Shroufi‚ Medical Coordinator for MSF South Africa‚ in Tuesday’s statement on the report.

The document said only 27% of facilities provide access to a psychologist‚ 28% are unable to provide access to a social worker‚ and 20% do not provide the clinical forensic services that enable survivors to pursue a case in a court of law.

MSF said timely treatment by appropriately trained healthcare workers can limit the serious health consequence of sexual violence – provided care is available.

“Providing a comprehensive package of care to survivors of sexual violence is a medical imperative‚ but services are rarely available in primary-care settings‚ where survivors can more readily access them‚” said Dr Shroufi.

MSF conducted a nationwide telephonic mapping of designated facilities in October 2017.

DoH national head of communication Popo Maja said the department has not seen the MSF report yet‚ and will provide comment once it has gone through the document.