Praneeta Prakash 
[Photo: Supplied]
Medical Services Pacific says no survivor of gender-based violence should face recovery alone as Fiji launched the revised National Service Delivery Protocol for Responding to Cases of Gender-Based Violence.
MSP Director Dr. Kesaia Robinson says the protocol strengthens coordination among agencies to improve support for survivors.
She also revealed that their Post-Rape Clinic has treated more than 1,700 survivors of sexual violence, with 94 per cent being women and 77 per cent children under 18.
She says while significant progress has been made, too many survivors continue to suffer in silence.
“For many survivors, the first hours of the experience of sexual violence are the most frightening times of their experience. They arrive frightened, they come in ashamed, confused; they cannot speak.”
Dr. Robinson says these figures show the urgent need for agencies to work together.
“So the revised protocol provides us with a stronger roadmap. Now it is our responsibility to bring it to life, not on paper, but in hospitals, in police stations, in courts, in schools, in villages, in settlements, and in every place where a survivor reaches out for help.”
Social Protection Minister Sashi Kiran says the revised protocol is a major step towards ensuring every survivor receives timely, coordinated and survivor-centered support.
