Ugandan women abducted, raped, and forced into sexual slavery as a strategy of the 23-year civil war in Uganda, have not had adequate medical care for their lasting injuries. 

The Ugandan government enacted a recovery and development plan in 2009, but most of the money has gone into the physical re-construction of buildings, rather than addressing the medical and psychological needs of the victims of sexual violence.

To begin addressing the lack in adequate care, a temporary medical clinic, run by Isis-Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE), has been set up in northern Uganda to aid women with reproductive health complications sustained from being raped during the conflict.  For many women, Isis-WICCE is the first time they have spoken about the violence, received any type of medical care or have seen a doctor since they were raped.

The deficiency of the government’s medical system (most health centers in the district have no medical officers and the entire district has only two gynecologists) has re-victimized the women by offering little or no support.  Isis-WICCE’s program manager, Helen Kezie-Nwoha believes that because the health complications they are seeing are a direct result of the sexual violence, the women in Northern Uganda need a special program to address their health needs. 

Compiled from:  Post War Reconstruction Ignores Victims of Sexual Violence (16 August 2011), Inter Press Service.