This may be an unusual post before Christmas – about the hell on earth for women – our world however, is not a peaceful world. A new study in PLoS Medicine shows this new pathologic behaviour from Panzi Hospital, Bukavu, South Kivu, Congo where doctor Mukwege is working
Rape with extreme violence characterizes the deliberate and mutilating assaults on women and girls by militia in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, says a new article in this week’s PLoS Medicine. “The destructive and sadistic behaviour systematically perpetrated by different armed groups over the last ten years signals a new pathology,†write Denis Mukwege and Cathy Nangini, which they call “rape with extreme violence†(REV).
Denis Mukwege—an obstetrician and gynaecologist shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize for the second time this year—describes his decade of work at the Panzi Hospital in South Kivu, where 10 women a day are treated for the after-effects of rape, and 200 of the hospital’s 350 beds are dedicated to survivors of sexual violence.
Public awareness is the only hope to end this nightmare.