Dr. Denis Mukwege is Healing Victims of Sexual Violence - This Is What You Need to Know
In 1999, gynecologist and surgeon Dr. Denis Mukwege established Panzi Hospital in the town of Bukavu in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He hoped to give women a safe place to give birth with access to high-quality care. He wanted to make sure that new mothers and their babies would have the best chance available to them to live and thrive.
Although Dr. Mukwege started his hospital with a desire to help mothers and their babies, the first patient to arrive there was not in labor. She was the victim of a brutal rape, one of numerous instances of sexual violence being used as a weapon of war throughout the region for decades. This is what you need to know about the Nobel laureate and his efforts to protect women from sexual violence:
Sexual Violence in the DRC
Sexual violence is a tragically common occurrence in the DRC, particularly in the eastern part of the country. Its prevalence is due in large part to the use of rape and sexual torture as tools and byproducts of the region’s long cycle of wars. This horrific violence, often ethnically motivated, has continued despite the nominal end of the Second Congo War in 2003.
After seeing that first patient, the hospital soon began receiving heartbreaking calls to help other rape victims, including a severely injured 18-month-old baby. Dr. Mukwege and his staff were traumatized by the effects of the trauma they witnessed. Unfortunately, they soon became familiar with the gynecological injuries that weaponized rape inflicts.
Early Life and Education
Denis Mukwege was born in 1955 in Bukavu, in the province of South Kiva, part of what was then the Belgian Congo. The son of a pastor, he frequently went alongside his father to the bedsides of people who are sick or dying. Women struggling through difficult or dangerous labors were often among them. These experiences set Mukwege on the course of his career.
With help from the Swedish Pentecostal mission in the DRC, Mukwege worked toward earning his medical degree. He chose to focus on obstetrics and gynecology after seeing the high rate of complications experienced by pregnant patients at one of the country’s existing hospitals. The Democratic Republic of Congo has long experienced one of the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality.
Panzi Hospital
Panzi Hospital also serves as a general hospital for approximately 500,000 patients a year, providing neo-natal surgery, oncology treatment, dental care, forensic medicine, and numerous other types of care. The hospital’s team delivers some 3,500 babies annually, and has a live birth rate of more than 99 percent. This is an astonishing statistic in one of the world’s most under-resourced nations.
In its role as a treatment center addressing sexual violence, the hospital has cared for some 50,000 victims and survivors, both female and male, over the past 21 years. United Nations data show, for 2019, more than 1,400 cases of sexual violence in the DRC related to the ongoing armed conflicts.
These numbers represent an increase of 34 percent over the previous year. The hospital’s holistic work with victims and survivors has four components: medical care, psychological care, legal assistance, and social and economic aid.
2012 Murder Attempt
In 2012, after he had denounced government-connected perpetrators of atrocities in a impassioned speech at the UN, Dr. Mukwege was the victim of attempted murder. Armed men broke into his home and held his family at gunpoint.
When Dr. Mukwege arrived, one of the gunmen attacked him and forced him out of his car. An employee and friend who tried to intervene was shot dead. Dr. Mukwege was only saved by throwing himself on the ground, and the panicked attacker fled in his car.
Dr. Mukwege and his family fled the DRC, fearing for their safety. However, his work called him back, even at risk to his own life. In January 2013, joyous crowds welcomed him back to the hospital.
Recognition and Awards
The physician’s determination to provide medical care to—and advocate on behalf of—the victims of sexual violence would earn him a 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Mukwege shared his Nobel Prize with Nadia Murad, a Yazidi activist for women’s rights and human rights. The Nobel committee honored the individual efforts of each of them to end the use of “sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.”
Dr. Mukwege has now worked for more than two decades reaching out to help victims of sexual violence in the DRC. His humanitarian efforts have also earned him a 2014 Sakharov Prize and numerous other honors. And he has continued in his mission of advocacy for bringing responsible and complicit parties—including parts of the government of the DRC and militias operating in and around the country—to justice.
Advocacy Work
Dr. Mukwege continues to serve as Panzi Hospital’s medical director. He also founded the affiliated Panzi Foundation as a further means of funding healthcare and social services.
He was the focus of a 2015 documentary film by Thierry Michel, entitled The Man Who Mends Women. The film not only records his work, it shows the hard work of survivors to regain control of their lives, and how many have collaborated to provide public testimony against perpetrators.
In 2019, he created a Global Survivors Fund, supported by the European Union, to help survivors seeking reparations in court. Dr. Mukwege has stated that he believes that, if a woman has the bravery to look beyond her trauma and lodge a complaint in court, it is society's humanitarian duty to help her as a first step in the healing process.
In 2020, Dr. Mukwege’s work grew in scope to include a fight against the coronavirus. Through his recent advocacy, he has outlined for world media how the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating existing violence and societal instability in the DRC and the region. He continues to plead with the international community to promote a cultural shift that holds the country responsible for the sexual violence and war crimes committed by its citizens.