In Liberia, baby steps are being made toward comprehensively addressing the needs of rape and sexual abuse survivors. Clinicians and social workers form the frontline of this comprehensive approach. All week the EQUIP Liberia Protection and Health teams have been conducting a training of 17 clinic staff from across NImba in the Clinical Management of Rape. The training was conducted with the support of USAID’s Rebuilding Basic Health Services (RBHS) and along with staff from International Rescue Committee (IRC) clinics, the Nimba County Health Team and RBHS’ Family Planning and Reproductive Health Advisor, Maima Zazay.
Philip from EQUIP Liberia’s Protection Team talking about legal and ethical issues of treating survivors.
The refugee influx along with Liberia’s own development makes the issue of sexual gender based violence (SGBV) a hot topic. It is the norm in Liberia for violence such as rape or other types of sexual abuse to go unaddressed and untreated. EQUIP’s Gender Based Violence Program is actively making efforts to shine light on these issues and work with Liberia’s justice system to find perpetrators and get convictions. Truly something that is unheard of in many countries and particularly across Africa.
Trainees work in groups on case studies.
Along with the justice component of SGBV there is the clinical management of gender based violence. Women (also, men and children) that have suffered these attacks should be seen in the clinic immediately. The training that EQUIP conducted gave clinicians the tools they need to counsel, examine, document, treat, refer and collect forensic evidence for rape and abuse survivors.
Liberian’s always make time to relax! Even during a training!
The communities that the trainees have come from (many from clinics along the Ivorian border) commonly witness the results of this type of violence. The rippling social, physical and psychological issues of such abuse are commonly seen in the communities EQUIP Liberia serves. These issues are not foreign to Liberians because unfortunately during the war many suffered these atrocities. Cases are unfortunately drastically under-reported and most go untreated for physical and emotional problems that result from such abuse resulting in long term psychological and reproductive health damage. The participants were eager to learn how to work with the survivors in their area to begin healing and hopefully assist survivors toward justice. The work and documentation of some EQUIP clinicians, in the past, has made it all the way to the Supreme Court.
EQUIP’s Liberian staff conducted the majority of the training. It is amazing to see the poise and the growth of the EQUIP staff as trainers. EQUIP is known for effective trainings and this was no exception!
Lawrina Donkeh, Reproductive Health Supervisor, EQUIP Liberia training on clinical issues
Photos taken by Jessica Hoover, EQUIP Liberia
Trainings that address SGBV open the door in Liberia to discuss sensitive issues and train health care providers to care for those in their communities who have suffered rape or sexual trauma. EQUIP Liberia is at the forefront of addressing these issues head on through our supported clinics and our Gender Based Violence (GBV) Protection Team.
- EQUIP Liberia Team