The NSMC are currently working with the highly respected Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) on a project in the platinum mining belt in South Africa.  The aim of this project based in Rustenburg is to get women and men who have been raped or suffered sexual abuse to attend specially designed MSF clinics that provide essential medical and counselling support.  Despite the fact that recent statistics show that around 40% of women in the area have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime, the numbers of people coming to the centre are still relatively low.

Our role is to develop and implement a social marketing campaign that engages with women and men who have been assaulted and get them to access the MSF care centres.  At the moment we are in the research stage of the project and are interviewing people to find out what the barriers are to stopping them accessing services.  We suspect it’s not just awareness that’s the problem but the fear and shame of rape and sexual assault that’s stopping so many people accessing these fantastic services provided by MSF.