There is need for more Gender Based Violence Rescue centres to be put up in all the counties to ensure that the survivors of GBV are taken good care of as they heal from the scars.
Martin Lunalo from a Nakuru-based organization Reproductive Health, Youth Friendly and Environmental Conservation Kenya-an organization that is implementing a program in Baringo County on Gender Based Violence says the GBV Rescue Centres are paramount.
While regretting that most counties do not have these centres including Baringo and Nakuru Counties, he called on Government to ensure such is implemented sooner than later.
“We calling on the Government to ensure that there are GBV Rescue Centers in every county beginning with Baringo and Nakuru where cases of GBV are experienced,” he said.
Nominated MCA Juliana Letangule from Baringo County says the Bill on Gender Based Violence has been tabled in the county Assembly.
MCA Letangule who has been on the forefront championing to eradicate cases of Gender Based Violence in Baringo County says she is optimistic that if the Bill goes through it will help address the Gender Based Violence cases.
“As Baringo County, there are so many Bills passed in the house but the one on Gender Based Violence is at the final stage and we hope once through it will help address the challenges being faced,“ she said.
According to statistics, Domestic Violence -38% of ever-married women have ever experienced physical violence compared to 9% of ever-married men while 14% of ever-married women have ever experienced sexual violence compared to 4% of ever-married men.
Meanwhile, 41% of ever-married women have ever experienced physical or sexual violence, while 11% of ever-married men have ever experience either form of violence from a partner (KDHS 2014).
The majority of gender-based violence incidents often go unreported or largely unrecognized.
The Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2014 found that nearly half of the female population (45 per cent) has experienced physical violence since attaining age 15. Equally damning was that 40 per cent of women aged between 15 and 49 years who had once been married suffered either physical or sexual violence at the hands of their partner or spouse.
Research by the Nairobi Women’s Hospital Trust, Gender Based Violence Recovery Centre, estimated the costs of treating a single case of gender-based violence at Sh6,000.
This translates to Sh392, 000 per week and more than Sh20.3 million annually. It is believed that victims are left to bear the brunt of the huge medical bills and the courts are failing to support them in their pursuit of compensation.