THOHOYANDOU - The Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme opened it's second One-stop, 24 hour Trauma Centre last week.

The centre is situated within Donald Fraser Hospital, who is also a partner of TVEP's in the project, and will attend to all cases of rape and domestic violence that are reported in the area that is served by the hospital. The centre has been modelled on the TVEP Tshilidzini Trauma Centre, which has been running effectively since September 2001, and by the end of January 2004 had assisted 1 071 rape survivors, of which 56% were children as well as 1 897 cases of family violence.

TVEP Management expressed their appreciation for the support and co-operation that they have received from the staff of Donald Fraser, who, like their colleagues at Tshilidzini, are doing all they can to ensure that victims of violence receive a high standard of care.

Despite the critical shortage of doctors, every effort is being made to ensure that rape survivors are assisted as quickly as possible. This is particularly important, as any delay in accessing anti-retrovirals increases the risk of the victim contracting HIV from the perpetrator.

As with Tshilidzini, all rape survivors who report timeously, and who are not already HIV+, are given free access to this medication.