Denis Mukwege

Denis Mukwege (born 1 March 1955) is a Congolese gynecologist. Working in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been gang-raped by Rwandan militia, Mukwege has probably become the world's leading expert on how to repair the internal physical damage caused by gang rape.[1] He has treated several thousands of women since the 1998 Congo's war, some of them more than once, performing up to 10 surgeries a day during his 18-hour working days. He has described how his patients arrive at the hospital sometimes naked, usually bleeding and leaking urine and faeces from torn vaginas.[1]

Contents

Early life

Mukwege was the third of nine children born to a Pentecostal minister and his wife. He studied medicine because he wanted to heal the sick that his father prayed for, working at first in a rural hospital, then traveling to France to study gynecology, after seeing the complications of childbirth experienced by women in the Congo who had no access to specialist healthcare.[1]

Awards

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Nolen, Stephanie. "Where repairing rape damage is an expertise," The Globe and Mail, October 22, 2008.
  2. ^ "United Nations Human Rights Prize 2008". 2008-02-14. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/UNHRPrize2008.aspx. Retrieved 2009-02-01. 
  3. ^ a b "DR Congo doctor is 'top African'". BBC News. 2008-12-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7828027.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-01. 
  4. ^ "The King Baudouin International Development Prize, A Prestigious and Original Accolade". 2011-05-24. http://www.kbprize.org/index.html?current=43&page=2&page2=43&lang=en. Retrieved 2011-05-24. 
  5. ^ "The Clinton Global Citizen Award". http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/ourmeetings/2011/meeting_annual_GCAwards.asp.