Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for Doctors Without Borders, Russ Filbey talks about his work in sexual-based violence clinics in Nigeria and answered the difficult question of what the work is really like.

· How are victims of sexual violence treated in these clinics? How are these clinics helping survivors deal with the trauma? What long term effects do these events have on the survivors? 

· Check out this article to read more about sexual violence outreach in Nigeria.

How to answer the question of what’s the work like?

I’m at the beginning of my second assignment with MSF, this time in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

MSF runs two sexual-based violence clinics here, providing critical medical and psychosocial care primarily to victims of rape.

Port Harcourt is a post-boom town. Lots of wealth (oil money) and poverty side by side. Lots of street crime. Kidnap and ransom is a minor industry here, targeted at the wealthy. We take extra precautions in our movements around the city.

MSF has a great reputation here. Riding in the car in town people will frequently call out: “Teme, Teme!” and wave. I quickly learned that “Teme” was the name of the hospital where MSF previously ran a trauma unit.

In a trauma unit, time is life; and MSF would treat anyone. However, with the civil unrest at that time, if you came to the hospital with a gunshot wound the medical team first had to get police clearance before treating you.

Read the full article about treating the trauma of sexual violence by Russ Filbey at Doctors Without Borders.