RESTORING HEALTH AND DIGNITY OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE SURVIVORS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA We thank our partners at UNFPA for their contribution of the following article.
“I remember a gender-based violence survivor who had everything taken away from her,” recalls Gemma Losema, a community health worker in Papua New Guinea. She was in a very violent situation and came to the Family Support Centre with nothing. I worked with her for many months until she got out of the situation. Now she is back at work again. She is living a much better life.” At the Family Support Centre in Milne Bay, Gemma and her colleagues provide essential, lifesaving services for women and girls who have experienced violence. Family Support Centers are the National Department of Health’s model for providing services to survivors of gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea. They are located at provincial and district-level hospitals throughout the country. Women and girls receive clinical care to treat injuries from violence and other medical services such as emergency contraception, and screening, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. Family Support Centers also offer emotional support and referrals to other services such as legal assistance. Gemma is a true lifesaver for many women and girls who are subjected to violence as a result of pervasive and toxic social norms rooted in gender inequality. But for every survivor Gemma and other service providers support, there are many more who live in a shroud of silence, never receiving professional help. This is concerning—especially since Papua New Guinea has among the highest prevalence rates of violence against women globally. Nearly 60% of women have experienced physical, sexual or both forms of violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime, but very few seek help. Despite the majority of women sustaining injuries as a result, only three percent reached out to medical personnel, three percent to social work organizations and 10 percent to the police.
8
THE ZONTIAN • NOVEMBER 2021
