For more than two decades, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has
suffered conflict, with soldiers and armed rebels both using rape as a weapon,
though recent studies also find an increase in rapes by civilians. A 2011 study
published in The American Journal of Public Health reported 1,100 rapes daily;
more than 400,000 women and girls age 15 to 49 were raped during one 12-month
period in 2006-2007—revealing that sexual violence against women is 26 times
more common in DRC than UN reports had shown.
The Panzi Foundation supports the work of Panzi Hospital and expands outreach to rural clinics and communities. The hospital, built in 1999 under the supervision of Dr. Denis Mukwege, founder and medical director, promotes basic, quality medical care—especially maternal and reproductive health care--for Congo’s marginalized populations. It also promotes women’s rights, advocates for preventing violence against women and children, and helps survivors of sexual violence rebuild traumatized lives—including providing a school for their children, frequently the offspring of rape.
From 1999 to June 2010, the hospital treated more than 25,000 women for gynecological conditions, many severe sexual-violence cases—not only mass rape but penetration by guns and other objects; the Hospital also treats survivors infected with HIV/AIDS.
Additional Foundation initiatives:
- Maison Dorcas is a transit and safety house for survivors under long- or medium-term care for such conditions as fistula and incontinence from repeated sexual assault.
- Three other transit/safe houses being established by The Foundation will provide women with a protected environment in which to heal via psychosocial and medical care, while learning skills for reintegration into family and community--literacy, numeracy, small-business skills—and accessing family mediation and micro-credit.
- The USHINDI Project (in the remote areas of Mwenga, Kitutu, and Shabunda)
will serve survivors of violence and children born of rap through a holistic
approach: literacy training plus medical, psychosocial, legal, and economic
support. USHINDI (“victory” in Swahili) will also train community leaders,
health-care providers, police, and paralegals.
- The City of Joy, in the Kivus’ region, is supported by V-DAY, and focuses on leadership training for women activists.
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Contributions to support Panzi Foundation are tax-deductible under U.S. law.
