ABOUT IPROTECT APP
Rape and sexual abuse can be committed against anyone, who can be a child, teen, young adult, matured adult, single or married, male or female. Their tribe, education and economic status are irrespective. It has no respect for creed or colour. However, reports are generally mostly from women and girls.
Sexual violence has fast become endemic within our society. Receiving care and access for many survivors and loved ones remains a challenge. One common complaint we heard repeatedly through our helplines, direct interactions with survivors and other colleagues in over 17 years of working in the sexual violence response sector is hearing survivors and loved ones say that they didn’t know where to get help.
In 2018, Jumia Mobile report in Nigeria stated that 162 million mobile subscribers in 2017 with 21 million smartphone users and only 17million is active on social media via their mobile phones. Developing the app will surely reach the online target became a matter of urgency. Utilizing the online space to reach survivors was a good idea.
At MediaCon, we believe that all survivors are entitled to receive the best possible response to their needs whether or not they choose to report or not. To help ensure that survivors of sexual violence have access to the resources they need in a time of distress and online, at a click was vital.
As one of the norms of the organisation, we carry the public along in this project and shared with the public. The idea of having an app for survivors received overwhelming support. The decision for name choice and content was tabled to the public through an online survey and online discourse. The name choice IPROTECT won amidst serious competition with other suggestions like QuickOne, WeHelp, BodyPolice, Anonymous and Saver Tips.
MediaCon with support grant from Global Fund for Women through the Johnson & Johnson- for work related to using technology to enhance health service delivery and improve health outcomes, have been able to to assist survivors in Nigeria by providing a one-stop app to:
1. Accessing medical emergency care/treatment such as within 72 hours Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent HIV infection & Emergency Contraceptive (EC) and medical examination & treatments
2. Accessing counseling & therapy services for proper management of trauma and mental health needs
3. Where to report abuse
4. Report in-app
5. Related Emergency numbers
All at a location closest to a survivor in Nigeria. We are optimistic that survivors will be able to access the much-needed life-saving help and so reduce new HIV infections, pregnancy from rape, Prevent Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and all other related health challenges like mental health concerns if the information is easily assessable.
We will appreciate feedback and look forward to hearing from you to better serve you.
NB
Our list is not exhaustive, we shall continue to update quarterly. We would appreciate if you can share information on organisations and professionals working in related fields that is not in our database. To do this, kindly use our contact us in-app to reach us. Thank you.
DISCLAIMER
MediaCon is not affiliated with any of the organisations listed herein, and as such, cannot take responsibility in part or full for the quality of services rendered by them. The collation of this list of SV/DV service Support centers was through a number of channels such as data from a voluntary data collection survey shared across many networks, phone calls and visit to some. This list is created solely for sexual violence / domestic violence survivors to access the required help and assistance in time of need.