After six years treating rape victims in Bujumbura, MSF is leaving the Seruka Centre.
On Friday, 19th June, MSF will hand over the Centre, in the Burundian capital of Bujumbura, to a local association “Initiative Seruka pour les victimes de Viol” (ISV). ISV was created in 2008 by members of the MSF Burundi staff working in the Seruka Centre, which has been specialising in the treatment of victims of sexual violence for the past six years.
“We have covered a great deal of ground since the Centre opened in 2004, and it’s time for MSF to hand its activities over,” said Luis Encinas, MSF’s operational coordinator in Brussels. “The Seruka Centre has raised awareness of the reality of rape in Burundi and has brought it out of the dark. MSF is passing on an equipped and functioning Centre, run by staff trained in the medical and psychological care of victims of sexual violence.”
A rape victim in MSF's Centre Seruka in Bujumbura, Burundi. November 05 Photo by Linda Nylind
Over the six years, the Seruka Centre cared for more than 7,800 people who had suffered from sexual violence. The numbers of people attending the Centre has now stabilised at around 130 a month. In order to respond to the still significant needs, the continuity of the Centre’s activities will be assured through support from the French Cooperation, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“There is a great deal of work ahead of us, and some difficult challenges to face,” said Christa Josiane Karirengera, coordinator of the Seruka Centre and a member of ISV. “In Burundi, rape is still a reality and we battle with it through our movement ‘OYA!’ which means ‘NO!’ in Kirundi. Moreover, the Seruka Centre remains the only facility in Burundi offering medical and psychological care for people who have suffered sexual violence.”
Patients at the Centre currently receive appropriate medical and psychological care, involving treatment of wounds; prevention measures against HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and sexually transmissible infections; prevention against undesired pregnancy and psychological support. More than 85% of rape patients now come to the centre within the first 72 hours, following the Centre's efforts to inform women about this critical window which allows HIV/AIDS prevention measures to work to their full effect.
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MSF has been working in Burundi since 1993. In addition to the Seruka Centre, MSF runs an emergency gynaecological-obstetrics centre in Bujumbura Rural province, and continues to respond to medical emergencies in Burundi, including the recent nutritional crisis in Kirundo province and the floods in Buterere commune, in Bujumbura Mairie.