One Stop Centre for the survivors of sexual and gender-based violence at Juba Teaching Hospital

Author(s): Busiri Julius Korsuk

Sexual and Reproductive Health National Consultant, UNFPA South Sudan

Correspondence: Busiri Julius Korsuk  [email protected]

Citation: Korsuk. One Stop Centre for the survivors of sexual and gender-based violence at Juba Teaching Hospital. South Sudan Medical Journal, 2023;16(4):144 © 2023 The Author(s) License: This is an open access article under CC BY-NC DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ssmj.v16i4.6 

The One Stop Centre at Juba Teaching Hospital offers a package of services for the survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. These include diagnosis and treatment of gender-based violence (GBV)-related injuries and clinical management of rape (CMR), psychological first aid (PFA), and counselling as well as legal support. The Centre provides a safe space, under one roof, for women, men, boys, and girls to obtain professional help and so be able to start healing and re-integrating into their communities.

One female survivor said, “The staff understood the violent situation I had gone through and were helpful. I was given a dignity kit with basic materials for my survival. I got better and let go of the idea of suicide.”[1]

A social worker at the Centre said, “We have witnessed a transformation from victims to empowered and well-informed survivors,” … “After weeks of undergoing counselling and psychosocial support, they come back to the centre and you can barely tell that they were the same women.”[2] 

In 2017, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) initiated the One-Stop Centre model in Juba as part of their programme to prevent and respond to GBV in South Sudan; there are now 13 Centres in all the ten states of South Sudan managed through various non-governmental organizations in partnership with UNFPA, The State Ministries of Health, State Ministries of Gender, Child and Social Welfare and funded by various donor governments. As well as medical and psychological support for survivors, the Centres train social workers and health staff on how to sensitively meet the needs of survivors. The integrated approach of the One Stop Centres has increased the uptake of GBV services but, most prominently, the convictions of perpetrators of GBV especially sexual violence.

References

  1. UNFPA East and Southern African. South Sudan: Protecting Women and Girls Against Sexual Violence in the World’s Youngest Country https://allafrica.com/stories/202303180082.html?utm_campaign=daily-headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=aans-view-link
  2. African Renewal (un.org). One-stop care centre helps women amid South Sudan’s epidemic of violence https://www.un.org/africarenewal/news/one-stop-care-centre-helps-women-amid-south-sudan%E2%80%99s-epidemic-violence#:~:text=At%20one%20facility%2C%20the%20Family,aid%2C%20counselling%2C%20legal%20support%20and

Other resource used:

  • Government of Canada. Providing a “one-stop centre” for sexual and gender-based violence survivors in South Sudan. https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/stories-histoires/2022/gender-based-violence-south-sudan_violences-genre-soudan-sud.aspx?lang=eng