The Kasama General Hospital One Stop Centre has bemoaned the failure by some men experiencing Gender Based Violence (GBV) to report such cases to relevant authorities.
Psycho-social Counselor at the one stop centre, Matilda Mbalamweshi has attributed the low numbers of men reporting such cases to stigma.
She said there is need to change people’s mind regarding abuse against men.
She said Kasama General Hospital One Stop Centre recorded seventy (79) cases of physical assault on women while only (18) eighteen cases were males.
She said this scenario does not indicate that men are not experiencing GBV but that they are shy to report cases.
“As you can see from the figures above, men are still very reluctant to report abuses due to the stigma from society,” she said.
Ms Mbalamweshi said this in an interview with the media in Kasama.
She said there is need for intensive sensitisations on the importance of male folk coming out of their shells to report abuse to one-stop centres country wide.
She said victims of physical and other abuses can only be helped with treatment and counseling if they report the abuses to relevant authorities.
And Ms Mbalamweshi says one stop centre provides a number of health services for both men and women.
“We have so many services that we offer to survivors of gender-based violence, we offer health services to people sexually assaulted, defiled and raped by offering PEP, to prevent sexually transmitted diseases,” she said.
She said other services include psychosocial counseling to help survivors who may have suffered trauma after the abuse.
She said the centre also offers legal services to victims through the Zambia Police Officers who are stationed at the centre.
“We also offer safety and security to children who have been defiled and raped, by taking them to safe houses,” she added.
“There are certain instances where children are abused in their homes, such a home is not safe for the child, so we retrieve such children and take them to safe houses,” she said.
This is a sign of upnd poor economic management. Men can’t find jobs and have lost their respect as breadwinners. Women can now even beat them in full view of their kids. Vote pf next time. We warned you
Dejavu gets wired by the wife…….
that’s why he always finds refuge in LT with his crap………
Men have lost it. Women are now in control.
We made a mistake to support this gender thing. See what has become of us now. Who are we???
Nothing! Women beat us , women deny us our conjugal rights, women insult us. When report to Police, policewomen laugh at us…We are finished!!