Rumphi DHO set to establish one stop centre

Rumphi District Hospital is set to establish a fully fledged one stop centre (OSC) to speed up handling of sexual abuse cases.

District health officer (DHO) Stephen Macheso said this on Friday during a stakeholders meeting organised by Life Concern Organisation (Lico), where delegates shared notes on progress in curbing sexual abuse cases in the district.

The OSC will accommodate officers from police, social welfare and health sectors who will be working under one roof to specifically assist victims of sexual abuse.

Macheso said they have identified a room which he said was not spacious enough to accommodate all personnel   designated to work in it.

Lico executive director Peter Gondwe, whose organisation is spearheading efforts to establish the centre, said they were still in process of fundraising for the construction of the project.

He said he met representatives of UNAids, UN Women and Unicef to lobby for the support of the project.

“Unicef told us that Rumphi is not in their ongoing project implementation plans. They, however, told us to wait until 2016 when something will crop up,” he said.

Earlier, Rumphi Police officials told the meeting that last year, police handled 26 cases of defilement and rape while this year between January and September the figure has risen to 37.

Rumphi community policing coordinator and child protection officer Adson Mapanda expressed concern that most child defilement cases go unreported to law enforcers, especially where the victim and the suspect are related.n