The story
Shocked by the mass rapes of Bosnian women and the lack of media coverage, gynaecologist Monika Hauser went to the conflict area in the former Yugoslavia in late 1992. In April 1993, Hauser and about 20 local psychologists and physicians opened the therapy centre Medica Zenica in Zenica, Bosnia. They developed concepts on how to help women and their children suffering from war trauma, both during and after the war. In Germany, supporters collected donations for the centre, organised supply convoys to the war zone and raised awareness. In June 1993, Hauser founded the association Medica mondiale in Cologne. The German news show Tagesthemen awarded her the title "woman of the year".
In 1996, Medica Zenica was officially recognised in Bosnia as a humanitarian organisation. In 1999, they expanded their activities to Kosovo and Albania, where more centres caring for raped and traumatised women where established. The interdisciplinary women's counselling centre in rural Gjakova in Kosovo has been independent since 2011.
On the basis of the concept developed in Bosnia, the organisation's activity was expanded to more countries, including Afghanistan, where the 2002-established Medica Afghanistan has operated independently since 2011. Since 2004, subsidies through a project fund have been channelled to selected women's organisations, mainly in the Central African region of the Great Lakes. Since autumn 2014, the association has been working in the Middle East, in the Syria/Iraq region and Turkey, to support women and girls who are affected and threatened of sexual violence, both in their home countries and as refugees.
From Wikipedia’s article on Medica mondiale, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5