Reaching Survivors Where They Are: Community-Based Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response in Humanitarian Settings

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is pervasive in humanitarian emergencies, but prevention and response programming—including clinical care for survivors—is often limited. Immediate access to time sensitive medicines can prevent HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unwanted pregnancies and subsequent unsafe abortions, and thus higher rates of morbidity and mortality.

In 2021, the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), with implementing partners Profamilia and Reproductive Health Uganda and research partners Universidad de los Andes and Makerere University School of Public Health, launched a pilot project in refugee and host communities in Colombia and Uganda to implement and evaluate a community-based SGBV prevention and response program to strengthen linkages to care, and promote care-seeking for survivors of violence.