16 Days of Activism: MSF looks at untreated violence on the platinum belt
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) launched a hard-hitting report exposing alarming levels of sexual violence, particularly rape, in the Rustenburg Local Municipality on South Africa's platinum mining belt.
The report, Untreated Violence: The Need For Patient-centred Care for Survivors of Sexual Violence in the Platinum Belt revealed that:
- One in four women surveyed, reported being raped during their life time - and yet 95% of women who survived rape never told a medical professional about the incident.
- Less than half of women surveyed knew that a treatment to prevent HIV could be taken after the rape occurred.
- Many barriers including having few professional staff trained in forensic examination and primary health care facilities, offering essential medical and psychosocial services, prevent rape victims from receiving the quality care they require.
MSF is sharing a "photo voice" project produced by six MSF community health workers depicting the daily realities and the lived experiences of the people they met through their work in the community.
The six health workers set out with cameras to photograph and document the harsh realities of people, women in particular, as seen through their own eyes.
Yolanda Hanning, who is a MSF psychologist working on the platinum belt, says the project was initiated following perceived high incidents of rape in the Rustenburg area.
"We are a medical humanitarian organisation that responds to crisis situations or where we find that people have limited access to medical care," says Hanning.
As part of their work the community health workers educate people about what constitutes sexual violence, and attempt to reduce the acceptability of violent behaviour and social stigma in the community.
"We have a health promotion team that is currently working in the Rustenburg area. We have also decentralised to the Madibeng region. The aim is to not just stay in Rustenburg, but to continue expanding our service to the district," says Hanning.
They also explain how and where people can access healthcare services if they experience violence.
They also provide information to communities about the medical consequences of sexual violence and seeking treatment.
