“My whole village turned against me after a single accusation. I ran for my life. I cannot go home. I cannot reclaim my land. If I go back, they will kill me.”
In Papua New Guinea’s Highlands, that is not a rare horror. It is a lived reality for women caught in the grip of sorcery accusation-related violence, where the attack itself is often only the beginning. As for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence in the area, after the violence comes another fight: finding care quickly, finding it safely, and finding it before fear, stigma, and silence close in.
The scale of the crisis is stark. Papua New Guinea’s latest Demographic and Health Survey (2016 – 2018) found that 56 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 had experienced physical violence, while 28 per cent had experienced sexual violence. Among ever-married women, 63 per cent had experienced emotional, physical or sexual violence by a spouse. Even then, many survivors remain silent. Thirty-nine per cent of women who had experienced physical or sexual violence had neither sought help nor told anyone. In the Highlands, the burden is even heavier, with 31.8 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 reporting sexual violence.
Sorcery accusation-related violence adds another layer of terror. A 2024 paper by the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute recorded 1,039 cases affecting 1,554 people across four provinces between 2016 and 2020. Jiwaka Province is considered one of the country’s four hotspots. The real toll is likely far higher. Much of this violence never reaches formal reporting systems. Many of those targeted are women and girls.
In Jiwaka, MSF works alongside the Provincial Health Authority to expand access to safe, confidential, respectful, and free care for survivors of all forms of violence, and to strengthen essential health services across the province. To strengthen the quality of care and improve community access to essential services, teams assessed health facilities across all three districts to identify gaps in service delivery and priority areas for support. Based on these findings, MSF delivered several training sessions in nine facilities and trained 164 health workers from September to December 2025, aiming to improve clinical capacity and ensure safer, more consistent care. To increase public awareness and help communities better navigate available services, teams also conducted 245 health talk sessions in Anglip-South Waghi District communities, including Minj Health Centre, reaching 1,998 people while village health volunteers then led nearly 150 community sessions reaching 2,239 people. In September 2025, the Family Support Centre at Minj began operating with MSF support, providing survivors with a clearer path from first medical care to follow-up help.
In cases of rape or severe assault, time matters. In the first 72 hours, a survivor may need treatment for injuries, emergency contraception, HIV prevention, protection from infection, and urgent psychosocial support. That is why the Family Support Centre at Minj matters. It is meant to make those first hours count and reduce the risk that survivors are lost between services.
A referral pathway, in plain terms, is whether help actually leads somewhere. Whether the next door opens. Whether a woman in crisis meets someone trained, discreet and ready to act, or is left to carry her trauma from office to office until exhaustion, fear or shame takes over.
In Jiwaka, that first link is often not a doctor. It is someone from the community.
“I became a village health volunteer because I have seen what violence does to our sisters and mothers,” said Yen, a local volunteer in Jiwaka. “Sexual violence is common here. Men rape young women. Violence also happens inside homes, where men beat women instead of respecting them. People like me must step up so survivors can get treatment. I want to help my community.”
