From February 20-22, the Capacity Project held a meeting in Kigali to review the preliminary results of the Rwanda Workplace Violence Study.

The meeting provided an opportunity for representatives of the ministries of health, labor, justice and gender as well as PROFEMMES, the Health Workers Union and the Nursing/Midwifery Council to review the findings and contribute to the conclusions and recommendations. According to the study, 39% of surveyed respondents from randomly selected Rwandan health facilities across 15 districts experience at least one form of abuse.

The most prevalent form is verbal abuse (27%), followed by bullying (16%), sexual harassment (7%), physical violence (4%) and sexual assault (2%). Meeting attendees were surprised by two aspects of the findings in particular: the 39% overall incidence rate, which is slightly lower than trends reported in other countries and which they suspect is underreported; and the notion that health personnel are both victims and perpetrators of abuse. The study will inform a Policy of Health and Safety at Work requested by the Minister of State in Charge of Labor. Next steps are

March 2008