Throughout Liberia’s 14 years of civil war, the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war was all too common. Although the war itself came to an end in August 2003 and the country has been disarmed since that time, sexual violence continues to affect Liberians. It is now estimated that 40 percent or more of women and girls in Liberia have experienced some form of sexual violence. In order to treat the overwhelming number of rape victims, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) set up treatment and counseling centers in three camps for internally displaced people north of the capital city of Monrovia as well as at Benson Hospital in the capital itself, where 60 percent of the Liberian population lives. Recently MSF teams in Nimba, a county northeast of the capital, have also begun work on issues pertaining to gender-based violence.Rebecca Singer is a nurse from Denver, Colorado, who has spent five months working with MSF to provide treatment and support for victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence at Benson Hospital’s Gender-Based Violence Clinic. Rebecca writes of her experiences thus far in Monrovia.
Women's Equity in Access to Care & Treatment