Sexual Gender Based Violence

What is it?

IMA World Health has been working in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for over a decade through SANRU III and Project AXxes. One consistent and devastating challenge throughout our work in DRC is sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

In April 2010, a senior representative of the United Nations referred to DRC as "the rape capital of the world." This terrible violence against women is most often committed by bands of military and quasi-military groups that crisscross eastern Congo; sometimes it is a result of an ages-old patriarchal cultural that continues to prevail.

Whatever the underlying cause, every year SGBV leaves thousands of women in great need of health care, both physically and emotionally.

What We Do

USHINDI

In 2010, IMA was selected as a key partner in the $16.5 million USAID-funded program USHINDI. Meaning "victory" in Swahili, USHINDI provides responsive care and supports victims in North and South Kivu where the epidemic of rape and abuse of women and girls is most severe.

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Project AXxes

Through Project AXxes, IMA's massive health systems development program in DRC, victims of SGBV are provided access to fistula repair and counseling to treat the physical and emotional ramifications of rape and abuse.

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Where We Work

DRC