Women's access to healthcare in Goma is becoming increasingly difficult, due to the rise in sexual violence but also to the scarcity of free medical care. Humanitarian funding cuts — especially USAID funding — mean that these women are finding it harder and harder to access care precisely when they need it most.



After years of advances across North Kivu,

the armed group AFC/M23 launched an offensive

on Goma and seized it in January 2025.



In our consultations, we are seeing a rise in STI cases [sexually transmitted infections], which is of course linked to all these high rates of sexual violence, as I mentioned. The precariousness of women's lives in Goma right now has opened the door to sexual exploitation — many women are being sexually exploited simply to survive.



Hope came with the peace agreements brokered by Donald Trump between Rwanda and the DRC, aimed at peacefully ending these conflicts. But unfortunately, to this day, no positive signs have been seen on the ground. Fighting and shelling continue.