{"id":92139,"date":"2022-09-27T20:30:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T18:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/congo\/lessons-from-world-health-organization-gender-based-violence-gbv-clinical-handbook\/"},"modified":"2022-09-27T20:30:08","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T18:30:08","slug":"lessons-from-world-health-organization-gender-based-violence-gbv-clinical-handbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/congo\/lessons-from-world-health-organization-gender-based-violence-gbv-clinical-handbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from World Health Organization Gender-Based Violence (GBV) clinical handbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a sensitive topic that requires professionals working with victims and survivors to be empathetic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization (WHO)\u2018Clinical Handbook on the Health Care of Survivors Subjected to Intimate Partner Violence and\/or Sexual Violence, Namibia\u2019 has helped doctors, social workers and nurses like Mark Bezuidenhout, an enrolled nurse at Epako Clinic, to be more sensitive toward their patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The handbook was initially meant for medical doctors, however, nurses and social workers have also found the handbook beneficial to their work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe handbook is very helpful. It makes it easier to deal with GBV clients because it helps us deal with patients empathetically and in ways that benefit them. Previously we often got stuck and did not know what to do next or who to involve,\u201d says Bezuidenhout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He is also more aware of the different forms of GBV violence. \u201cI\u2019m more aware on how to deal with the rape survivors and those subjected to other kinds of GBV,\u201d says Bezuidenhout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has had to deal with patients who are abused physically, emotionally and sexually. The majority are women of reproductive age. \u201cWe refer these patients to the social workers for further interventions,\u201d explained Bezuidenhout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Justina Shoopala is a Senior Registered Nurse at the Rundu State Hospital. One way she has been able to pick up that her patients were possibly being abused is when they would refuse to go back home after being discharged from the hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOften times they would refuse to tell us why they do not want to go home but with further probing, we would tell that they are experiencing some kind of abuse and then we would refer them to the social workers,\u201d explains Shoopala.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She further notes that when the same patient is admitted to the hospital \u2018many times with no signs of serious physical symptoms they also dig deeper to rule out potential abuse. \u201cThe training sensitized us on how to ask questions to the client without being insensitive,\u201d Shoopala says.<\/p>\n

Audrey Gaes, a social worker for the Ministry of Health and Social Services in the Erongo region has been working with GBV patients sometimes identified by doctors or nurses. Whether the patients go back for follow-up sessions with the social workers depends on their socioeconomic status.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to establish rapport with the patients because that determines their willingness of the patients to continue. We teach them independence because some of them stay in relationships because of mental, psychological, and emotional dependency. So, they have to be taken through this process,\u201d Gaes said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

GBV causes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gender-based violence has various causes, the health professionals note. Accessive alcohol consumption and poverty are among the contributing factors that result in GBV. \u201cYou will find young girls with sugar daddies who end up abusing them,\u201d adds Bezuidenhout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He feels that nurses should ask questions when underaged children come to the hospital for antenatal care. \u201cNot every nurse or health worker is aware of statutory rape and that there is a penalty for not reporting it,\u201d observed Bezuidenhout. \u00a0<\/p>\n

This is why training more nurses on the clinical handbook will be crucial, adds Bezuidenhout. \u201cOften times the nurses would just treat the patient for the disease they came for, so I think more nurses should be trained to identify GBV cases so that they can refer the clients who might be experiencing this to the social workers. It would also be great if there can be a unit for such cases where people can come and feel safe,\u201d said Bezuidenhout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Train the law enforcement officers<\/strong><\/p>\n

While this training has helped Bezuidenhout, he feels that law enforcement officers should also be trained in the clinical handbook. \u201cThe handbook is so beneficial that the law enforcement officers could benefit from it. Most of the GBV cases are referred to them so they could really benefit from this training,\u201d said Bezuidenhout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe handbook needs to be decentralized, involving the Ministry of Gender, and the GBV unit because for them if they maybe have a rape case, they will just come and say we have a rape case without being sensitive to the client. Confidentiality is important. So, it will be good for them to be trained on the booklet,\u201d added Bezuidenhout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Angaleni Kangayi, the Regional Chief Social Worker in Rundu agrees that the training should be provided to other stakeholders. \u201cThis will help us understand the role other stakeholders are playing in addressing GBV,\u201d said Kangayi.<\/p>\n

The impact of COVID on GBV programmes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on GBV services, says Bezuidenhout. He is the only nurse stationed at the Epako clinic who participated in the training. The first training took place before the Covid-19 pandemic. But, when Covid-19 hit, his attention was geared toward that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy work was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic because I have been out on vaccination campaigns,\u201d he says. He also does not have a consultation room where he sees GBV patients. \u201cAt the moment I\u2019m attending to TB (tuberculosis) patients,\u201d he said. Similar, Shoopala feels that the Covid-19 pandemic has shifted their focus away from GBV and calls on the Ministry and partners to continue their support for the implementation of the Clinical Handbook.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of WHO Regional Office for Africa.<\/i><\/p>\n

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South Africa Today Africa \u2013 Central Africa Congo<\/a> News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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