So let us come together and join forces. We must join forces to fight stigma and discrimination. Let us build on the resiliance and leadership of women.
—Thoraya A. Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA

Congolese doctor honored in the U.S.

Dr. Denis Mukwege, 54, Noble Prize nominee and Medical Director of the Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was honoured in an event organized in 2010 in New York by the Fistula Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit institution which raises awareness of and funding for fistula repair, prevention, and educational programs worldwide.  It is one of the many institutions and organizations that have joined forces to fight the problem and a key partner within the Campaign to End Fistula.

According to Fistula Foundation Executive Director Kate Grant, who with Board Chair Mr. Kassy Kebede hosted the event, “The work carried out by Dr. Mukwege in the Panzi Hospital is not only about healing women in DRC, but, more importantly, it is about helping to restore their dignity.”

The 400-bed facility presided by Dr. Mukwege is becoming a referral center specialized in the treatment of women and girls victims of sexual violence, which can result in traumatic fistula. But many of the patients —although also victims of violence— have a different condition: obstetric fistula, which is caused by unrelieved obstructed labour.

Approximately 500 fistula cases are treated every year in the hospital, which has 21 doctors and 300 staff, and is basically supported by donations and contributions from institutions like the Fistula Foundation.

“Although they usually suffer gender violence and sexual abuse, most of the women who come to our attention — almost 80 per cent of cases — developed fistulas due to obstructed labour,” said Dr. Mukwege. “But we can’t ignore the abuse component, usually related to gang rape and other brutal forms of sexual violence against women, which increase the risks of developing fistulas and recurrence of the condition.”

For Dr. Mukwege, women have been transformed into weapons of war in DRC’s 11-year conflict. “By destroying women, soldiers try to destroy the source of life. By violently assaulting them, they indirectly assault their enemies. By giving women sexually transmitted infections, they want to also infect their enemies. It’s a vicious and tremendously inhumane cycle of destruction”, Dr. Mukwege added.

Several donors and specialists present at the event unanimously acknowledged the importance of the work done by the Panzi Hospital, which also receives U.S. private sector voluntary contributions, mostly through the Fistula Foundation.

For more information on the Panzi Hospital, please access:
http://www.panzihospitalbukavu.org/

For more information on the Fistula Foundation, please access:
http://www.fistulafoundation.org