Журнал женского здоровья
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Management of the Medium-To-Long Term Post-Rape Medical Care of the Adult Female Survivor in South Africa

NB Bougard*

Background: This research formed part of principal project which investigated the lived experiences of 28 service providers and 17 adult female rape survivors regarding the quality of post-rape services rendered within South African criminal justice system.

Methods: A total of nine medical post-rape service providers were recruited at three medico-legal facilities in the Gauteng province. With the aid of a semi-structured interview schedule the researcher collected information in relation to the management of medium-long term post rape medical care rendered to the adult female survivor in South Africa.

Results: Medical service providers shared their experiences regarding the clinical management and main challenges they continuously contend with in rendering post-rape medium-long term medical care to the adult female survivor in South Africa.

Conclusion: Post-rape medical services for the adult female survivor should be incorporated with the Global Health Strategy (2022-2023) and Ministry of Health Referral Policy for South African Health Services and Referral Implementation Guidelines (2020), accompanied by regional and local policies and directives. Moreover, an emphasis should be placed on capacity building, improvement in medical quality-of-service rendering, awareness about treatment availability and adherence, prioritising referral mechanisms being medico-legal, mental health and forensic psychiatric services.