Congratulations to Nobel Peace Prize winner 2018 Dr Denis Mukwege, associate of Institute of Health and Care Sciences Professor and GPCC-researcher Marie Berg

The 2018 Nobel peace prize has been jointly awarded to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. Dr Mukwege is a longstanding associate of Marie Berg, Professor in Health Care Sciences specialising in Reproductive and Perinatal Health at the Institute of Health and Care Sciences at Sahlgrenska University/The University of Gothenburg, and researcher at GPCC.

Professor Berg has been working closely with Dr Mukwege for over thirty years.

In 2016 Dr Mukwege and Professor Berg co-authored a scientific article entitled A Holistic, Person-centred Care Model for Victims of Sexual Violence in Democratic Republic of Congo: The Panzi Hospital One-Stop Centre Model of Care. Link to the article.

Dr Mukwege spoke about the work described in this article during his talk at The University of Gothenburg in October 2016.
– Medical treatment was the number one thing, but we soon saw that it wasn’t enough; we needed a wider perspective. To treat and rehabilitate the victims of extreme sexual violence, a person-centred holistic model, the one-stop model, has been developed. It is based on working with the women in partnership with four pillars – their medical, psychosocial, legal and socio-economic needs, and to identify their individual resources and use them proactively in rebuilding their own lives and their communities.

The picture shows Dr Mukwege and Professor Berg during Dr Mukwege’s talk at The University of Gothenburg in 2016.

PHOTO: LISS PERSSON