Abstract
Background: The impact of sexual violence in any community is extremely devastating and women in the Eastern part of the Congo are no exception. Sexual violence not only affects the health of women, but it impacts their social life within the community too. Objective: The study aims to investigate the experiences of female victims of sexual violence in accessing medical care in North Kivu. Design: An interpretive, phenomenological approach was used for this inductive and qualitative study. In-depth informant interviews were the main data collection tool. Open-ended questions were used during the interviews in order to garner more information from the interviewees. Heidegger’s approach was utilized in analyzing the collected data. Results: The analyzed and interpreted results of the data indicated that survivors of sexual violence are engaged in an ongoing struggle. The victims demonstrated immense resilience despite the lack of comprehensive medical care and have continued to reassemble their broken lives. In order to present the outcomes of the research in a succinct and coherent manner, the outcomes are categorized into five sub-themes: managing worries and shame; regaining happiness; healing and restoration; the need for professional assistance and struggles in daily life. Conclusion: The study provides an understanding of the recovery processes of survivors of sexual violence in North Kivu, with important insights into dimensions that rehabilitation programs should take into consideration.
Highlights
The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been called a ‘war against women’ due to the high mortality rate among them and their atrocious treatment by all fighting groups[1]
The findings are presented in three thematic areas of the specific objectives: social, physiological and psychological health; difficulties encountered by victims of sexual gender based violence (SGBV) in accessing health care and their legal rights; and interpretive phenomenology among women participants in the research
The victims concurred that psychological disorders were caused by the abhorrent acts of gang rape, with some of them even being raped in public and their traumatic experiences fundamentally form the basis of the behavioral problems
Summary
The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been called a ‘war against women’ due to the high mortality rate among them and their atrocious treatment by all fighting groups[1]. Evidence shows that North Kivu province reported more SGBV incidents than any other province[4]. This war has been compared to World War II and the Holocaust[5]. Objective : The study aims to investigate the experiences of female victims of sexual violence in accessing medical care in North Kivu. Results : The analyzed and interpreted results of the data indicated that survivors of sexual violence are engaged in an ongoing struggle. Conclusion : The study provides an understanding of the recovery processes of survivors of sexual violence in North Kivu, with important insights into dimensions that rehabilitation programs should take into consideration
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