A man never cries: barriers to holistic care for male survivors of sexual violence in eastern DRC

While we know that most male survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) do not have access to care, little attention has been devoted to a systematic analysis of why this is so. Drawing from semi-structured interviews with staff of service providers and male survivors of sexual violence, as well as from focus group discussions with community members in eastern DRC, this article sets out to explore challenges and barriers related to meeting the needs of male survivors of sexual violence with respect to their medical, psychological, socioeconomic and legal needs.