Expert Seeks Special Centre For Sexual Assault Survivors

Coordinator of Benue State Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Dr Laadi Swende, has advocated for the establishment of centres for sexual assault survivors in the 276 wards of the state to enable survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence get free emergency medical treatment, counselling and justice support services.

Swende, who spoke at a one-day advocacy/awareness creation by the Spring of Hope for the Girl Child Development Initiative (SHoGDI) lamented that at present the only SARC centre established in the state was not functional.

In her presentation titled, “Understanding the SARC,” Swende said the first point of call for assault and GBVs survivors is the centre to enable health service providers to attend to them before the next step of action.

Swende who is also a family physician at the Federal Medical Centre Makurdi also called on stakeholders to come together to brainstormed on ways to get the attention of the state government to activate SARC to shelter, counsel, treat and provide justice support services to survivals of assaults and GBVs.

In a welcome address the executive director Mimidoo Uhundu explained that SARC was established in Benue in January, 2023 to provide free emergency medical treatment, counseling and justice support services, lamenting that since the establishment of the centre nothing is working apart from the physical structure.

She said based on the increase in sexual assaults and GBVs in the state, the Spring of Hope for the Girl Child Development Initiative (SHoGDI) is collaborating with the Benue NGOs Network, BENGONET, to bring together stakeholders within the gender and reproductive health space to find and adopt strategies on how to get the Benue State government to activate SARC.