Women and Girls in Complex Emergencies

In Northern Uganda, a collaboration of an NGO, district government and the National Guidance and Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV, provided outreach counseling and testing in IDP camps. A total of 1,182 people, of which 62.8% were females, were counseled, tested and received results in nine IDP camps. Individuals who tested positive were linked to hospitals for HIV/AIDS care while those who were HIV-negative were educated on HIV prevention and linked to post-test clubs.

Data collected between 2005 and 2007 from Malteser International, which has run a medico-social support program for rape survivors in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, registered 20,157 female rape survivors, but only a few sought medical care and psychological help, with less than 1% presenting for services before the 72 hour window when post-exposure prophylaxis can be safely used and effective. “Possible reasons include insecurity in the area, fear of stigmatization and lacking awareness about the importance of receiving timely medical treatment” (p. 6). More than one third of patients had been sexually violated one year or longer ago. The percentage of women expelled from their homes after experiencing sexual violence fell from more than 12% in 2005 to 6% in 2007. This may be due to the success of awareness-raising campaigns, which aimed to lower public stigmatization and discrimination against rape survivors. With four of ten rejected rape survivors, re-integration into the family failed despite family mediation. However, between 2005 and 2007, those who had an HIV test increased from less than 2% to 57%.