Testimonies of Survivors of Sexual Violence – Kasai Central, DRC (2)

These testimonies were collected during a field visit by an MSF communications team to the Kananga project in September 2018. Kananga is the capital of the province of Kasai Central. MSF cares for survivors of sexual violence in the Kananga Provincial Reference Hospital, providing quality medical care and psychological support, free of charge. From May 2017 to September 2018, MSF’s teams undertook 2600 consultations. They currently see an average of over 200 survivors per month. Eighty per cent of the victims reported being raped by armed men. The vast majority of MSF’s patients did not seek care until one month or later after the attack, most commonly due to a lack of awareness about the existence of dedicated sexual violence care services, but also due to the distance needed to be overcome to reach MSF’s care in Kananga. All names have been changed to protect the victims.