Now, the world is without me

An investigation of sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Research on sexual violence in DRC is extremely challenging. Sexual violence is deeply stigmatized in Congolese culture and many of those affected live in remote or insecure regions. Thus, rigorous data are lacking and many important questions remain unanswered.

With the support of Oxfam America and in collaboration with medical staff at Panzi Hospital, researchers from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) performed a retrospective cohort study of sexual violence survivors presenting to Panzi Hospital with a specific aim of answering the following outstanding questions:

1. When, where and how are women being attacked and what makes them vulnerable to sexual violence?
2. How has the rape epidemic in South Kivu evolved over the last five years?

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