PAGE BEFORE CHANGES: War rape has a severe impact on the victims and may be systematic in nature or an isolated act of sexual violence.[8][45] A recent study lists the physical injury to the victims of war rape as traumatic injuries, sexually transmitted disease, and pregnancy. Because war rapes take place in zones of conflict, access to emergency contraception, antibiotics, and/or abortion are extremely limited. The short-term psychological injuries to the victims include feelings of fear, helplessness, and desperation. Long-term psychological injuries may include depression, anxiety disorders (including post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS)), multiple somatic symptoms, flashbacks, difficulty re-establishing intimate relationships, shame, and persistent fears.[45]
If left untreated, the physical and psychological effects of sexual assault and rape can be devastating, sometimes even deadly. Causes of death as the result of sexual violence include suicide, murder, and infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Murder of sexual assault and rape victims may be perpetrated by the rapist or as part of an honor killing by family members of the victim. A victim of a rape or other sexual assault might become pregnant as a result of the rape. He or she could have trouble sleeping, changes in their appetite, or develop full-blown emotional problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, substance abuse, or dependence. Individuals who have experienced sexual assault are at risk for other day-to-day problems, including arguing with family members and having problems at work.
War rape may include gang rape and rape with objects, such as sticks and gun barrels. Women victims may suffer from incontinence and vaginal fistula as a result of particularly violent instances of rape.[46] Vaginal fistula is a medical condition usually the result of poor childbirth care, and involves the walls between the vagina, bladder and anus or rectum being torn, resulting in severe pain and debilitating incontinence.[46] Women victims of war rape may be stigmatised and excluded from their families or communities as a result of war rape, particularly in societies where female virginity is prized and the husband of a rape victim is considered shamed.[47][48]
PAGE AFTER CHANGES: Effects[edit] Effect is a change or consequence, something brought out as a result of an action.[44] This section aims to discuss the various results of war rape on the emotional, phycological and physical conditions of a person subjected to rape and war rape in particular.
Physical effects[edit] A recent study lists the physical injury to the victims of war rape as traumatic injuries, sexually transmitted diseases, maternal mortality, un-wanted pregnancies, un-safe abortions, and persisten gynecological problems are of major concern.[45] Because war rapes take place in zones of conflict, access to emergency contraception, antibiotics, and/or abortion are limited. Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is not uncommon. In certain war gang rape instances, the objective of infecting women interned in rape camps was the systematic effect of HIV soldiers specifically selected to spread HIV Aids to the gang-raped.[7]
War rape may include physical rape of the male organ. Gang rape and rape with human objects or physical objects, such as fists, sticks, rods, and gun barrels are also methods used in war rape. Women victims may suffer from incontinence and vaginal fistula as a result of these particularly violent instances of rape.[46] Vaginal fistula is a medical condition of viginal abnormality where there is hole in the vagina in close proximity to the colon (anus or rectum) or bladder.vaginal-fistula. In some cases, it is birth defect, in others it is a result of female genital cutting (FGM) and rape. In extreme instances of violent rape in war, the walls of the vagina are torn or punctured, resulting in severe pain and debilitating incontinence (urinary complications) and bowl containment.[46] Violent rape is also a cause of obstetric fistula which is a hole in the female organ and birth canal.[47] Physical effects may also include bone breakage such back-breaking and cranial cracks, causing future disability, visual and hearing impairment, and mental incapacitation.
Psychological effects[edit] Victims and survivors of war rape are at very high risk of psycho-social problems.[48] The short-term psychological injuries to the victims include feelings of fear, helplessness, sadness, disorientation, isolation, vulnerability, and desperation. If left untreated, the psychological effects of sexual assault and rape can be devastating, sometimes even deadly. Causes of death as the result of sexual violence include suicide and murder. Murder of sexual assault and rape victims may be perpetrated by the rapist or as part of an honor killing by family members of the victim.
Long-term psychological injuries may include depression, anxiety disorders (including post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS)), multiple somatic symptoms, flashbacks, on-going trauma, chronic insomnia, self-hate, nightmares, paranoia, difficulty re-establishing intimate relationships, shame, disgust, anger, and persistent fears.[49] She or he could have trouble sleeping, experience changes in their appetite, or develop full-blown emotional problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, substance abuse, or dependence. Individuals who have experienced sexual assault are at risk for other day-to-day problems, including arguing with family members and having problems at work. Lack of medical psychological support resources also puts victims of war rape at further disadvantage.[50] Refugee women are also at a disadvantage of receiving adequate assistance to deal with the psychological consequences of war rape - not only do they lack legal representation, the also may lack protection from the perpetrators of the violent act.[51] Furthermore, there is an increase in dislike of refugees and asylum seekers which is another obstacle in the psychological healing process of victims seeking assistance outside of their countries that may still be under civil strife. [52] Psychological support and counseling sessions given by individuals not part of the ethnic, linguistic, and/or community may insight difficulties in communication between patient and care giver. As a result, adequate emotional and psychological support to the victims is not fully developed, affecting the long-term healing potential for the patient. Psychological issues also increase when women victims of war rape are stigmatised and excluded from their families or communities as a result of war rape. In societies where female virginity is prized, the husband of a rape victim is considered shamed.[53][54] Women are either forced to flee from their communities or are left living marginalized existences within the social fabric of their communities. This social out-casting system deepens the psychological wounds the victim experiences in post-war rape circumstances.
Psychiatric care[edit] Disrupted healthcare sectors is a term the World Health Organization describes for medical facilities that are destroyed or partially destroyed in war torn areas.[55] Health care facilities are essential for the establishment of support systems for rape victims. Phycological support units are also hampered by the lack of material resources available to the medical community on-ground. Medical practitioners and health-care workers face daunting challenges in conflict and post-conflict area.[56] As the WHO explains, "healthcare delivery fragments and deteriorates, memory and knowledge are eroded, and power disperses." [57] War torn societies in immediate post-conflict zones have broken medical infrastructure such as: destroyed or partially destroyed hospitals (or clinics); non-functioning hospitals; poor, scarce or inadequate medical supplies, lack of running water, and scarce or lack of electricity. Dismantling weapons from armed rebels and other groups are prioritized in immediate post-conflict situations which in effect de-prioritizes the immediate physical and psychiatric care that war rape victims are in urgent need of. "If we do not have the capacity to prevent war, we have a collective responsibility to better understand and treat its psychiatric, medical, and social consequences."[58] Access to phycological health services further causes inequity for survivors of war rape who are at the margins of society living in chronic poverty or located in rural regions.[59][60] Healthcare and psychiatric care is a key component to the healing processes of war rape.