WHERE VICTIMS

TRANSFORM


INTO SURVIVORS

Despite the immense challenges facing the Democratic Republic of Congo, Panzi Foundation and Dr. Denis Mukwege continue to invest in what matters most – the Congolese people. For over a decade, we have supported community members, staff, and survivors in accessing continued education in the medical field.

Christine ZAWADI, formerly a beneficiary of Maison Dorcas, was able to complete school thanks to full educational support from Panzi Foundation. A survivor of sexual violence, she shares that after receiving care at Panzi, she chose to study medicine, because her dream was to “become like Dr. Denis Mukwege: to help women too.” Today, she is a nurse, a graduate of Panzi’s Medical Technical Institute (ITM). Ambika FURAHA, a scholarship recipient from 2014–2015, now feels capable of “accomplishing anything,” thanks to the confidence and momentum this support helped build.

Panzi Hospital’s remarkable impact has also grown thanks to the dedication of its multidisciplinary team – doctors, nurses, midwives, and psychologists. Among them, Dr. Angel BUTOTO, in her final year of residency in internal medicine at Panzi Hospital, recalls the obstacles that nearly derailed her path: “This scholarship helped me enormously, because I was struggling to continue my specialization. That’s when I went to see Dr. Denis Mukwege. Thanks to his support, I was able to continue, and I am now about to finish.”

Through our commitment to excellence, Panzi has supported and equipped many experts, teachers, and researchers over the years, who in turn, are now passing on their knowledge. Among them, Professor Reine BAHAYA, a dental surgeon, shares: “I wanted to specialize, but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to afford my studies, since I would have had to stop working.” Thanks to Panzi’s support, that worry faded, and her ambition to specialize in pediatric dentistry, as well as to pursue a doctorate, became a reality. Today, she can proudly say she is “the only woman with a PhD in Dental Surgery” in the DRC.

Through this support, Panzi is building bridges of knowledge transfer, so that beneficiaries themselves become living conduits, inspiring new generations and strengthening national expertise well beyond their own individual journeys. It was in this spirit that recipients of these scholarships recently gathered at Panzi Foundation to share their respective experiences and discuss the various challenges they each overcame through this scholarship program.

Because at Panzi, we work with Congolese people, for Congolese people, to find lasting solutions to urgent problems.

This activity was made possible thanks to the support of the King Baudouin Foundation, through the Fonds Dr Denis Mukwege-Hôpital Panzi.  

WASHINGTON, August 13, 2026 – The U.S. Office of Panzi Foundation is proud to announce that Ms. Kim Thuy Seelinger has joined its Board of Directors, effective July 16, 2026. A leading expert on gender-based violence in armed conflict and forced displacement, Ms. Seelinger has spent her career strengthening the justice and support systems available to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

Ms. Seelinger holds faculty positions in both Public Health and Law at Washington University in St. Louis, where she joined as the inaugural director of the Center for Human Rights, Gender and Migration in 2019. She first met Dr. Denis Mukwege in 2007 and visited Panzi Hospital and Foundation in 2014 while studying responses to conflict-related sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the years since, she has continued to support local justice and survivor-support efforts in the region while influencing critical global policies through applied research and technical assistance.

In 2021, Ms. Seelinger was appointed Special Adviser on Sexual Violence in Conflict to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. She later became the Office’s first Senior Coordinator on Gender-based Crimes and Crimes Against and Affecting Children, overseeing implementation across all trial teams, including the DRC situation, before returning to Washington University in August 2025. A practicing lawyer, Ms. Seelinger has also represented survivors of conflict-related sexual violence for years, is a graduate of New York University School of Law, and remains an active member of the New York State bar.

A recognized expert on gender and conflict-related sexual violence, Ms. Seelinger’s contributions include advising on and commenting on the International Protocol on the Documentation and Prosecution of Sexual Violence in Conflict in 2014/2017, co-drafting the Office of the International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s policies on gender-based crimes and on children in 2023, the UN Framework on the Prevention of Conflict-related Sexual Violence in 2022. Her writing has appeared in notable publications including the Journal of International Criminal Justice, the Lancet, and Foreign Affairs.

Before joining Washington University, Ms. Seelinger directed the award-winning Sexual Violence Program at the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she also taught courses on the law of armed conflict and refugee protection, and remains a Senior Research Fellow there.

“Kim has stood with Panzi for nearly two decades, long before she joined our Board,” said Panzi’s founder and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dr. Denis Mukwege. “Few people understand as well as she does how research, policy, and international justice must connect back to survivors themselves and I have watched her bring survivors’ voices into rooms where accountability is decided. She joins us not as a newcomer, but as a longtime partner in this fight, and we are grateful to have her expertise guiding Panzi’s next chapter.”

“In nearly two decades of working alongside Dr. Mukwege and the Panzi team to strengthen survivors’ access to support and justice, I have learned so much from them about holistic care, individual and community healing, and the urgent need for global response to the ongoing crisis in eastern DRC” says Ms. Seelinger. “As I travel across conflict zones and other humanitarian crises around the world, Panzi’s holistic model of care has always been my reference point for how to approach survivor-centered care, even in the most fragile and insecure settings. I am now honored to join the Panzi board.”

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About Panzi Foundation
Panzi Hospital and Foundation provides survivors of sexual violence with access to compassionate, holistic care in the Democratic Republic of Congo. At Panzi, survivors receive comprehensive health services, psychosocial support, job-skills training and socio-economic reintegration opportunities, as well as access to legal services. Since 1999, Panzi has served over 91,000 survivors across the country, empowering them to not only survive, but to thrive as they rebuild their lives.

The 17th Ebola epidemic, caused by the Bundibugyo strain, was first detected in eastern DRC in late May – starting in Iutri before spreading to North Kivu and South Kivu. This week, a new case has recently been detected in Kisangani, a sign that the disease continues to progress. According to the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), 1,406 cases have been recorded in total with 438 deaths, a fatality rate of 31.2%.

In this challenging context, land borders with Rwanda and Uganda remain closed, while the airports of Goma and Bukavu have been shut down since rebels took over these cities in early 2025, limiting the external supply of medical supplies. Several hospitals in the city now find themselves unable to source alcohol and disinfectants. For this reason, Panzi Foundation’s bioethanol plant stands as a safeguard against the spread of the virus.

What is bioethanol?

Bioethanol is an ethyl alcohol created by fermenting sugar-rich plant materials, such as sugarcane. It is used as a disinfectant, solvent, or fuel, and should not be confused with drinking alcohol. Panzi Foundation’s plant produces 96% bioethanol, intended exclusively for medical disinfection and the production of hydro-alcoholic solutions.

A response to broken supply chains

During epidemics, 96% bioethanol is essential for disinfecting hands, surfaces, protective equipment, and treatment centers. Since it launched in 2024, the unit has primarily supplied health facilities, laboratories, pharmaceutical warehouses, and other institutional users in the city of Bukavu, whose annual demand for medical bioethanol is estimated at around 77,000 liters.

Border closures and conflict have resulted in severe disruptions to the supply chain. Panzi Foundation’s bioethanol plant has filled key gaps for health facilities across the region. Without this local production, many hospitals in Bukavu would have otherwise depleted their stock of disinfectant, a grave risk in the face of an epidemic that threatens frontline staff and treatment sites. Thanks to Panzi’s plant, hospitals in our network are now able to maintain minimum standards of infection control and can continue to respond to Ebola.

“After a start marked by technical and financial challenges, our plant is entering a new phase. We are progressively scaling production to better meet the needs of hospitals, health centers, and laboratories fighting infectious diseases, including Ebola.”

— Joël Bisimwa, Manager of the bioethanol production unit

Health sovereignty driven by women producers

In order to produce the bioethanol, large quantities of sugarcane are needed. Behind this production are 300 inspiring women, members of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), mutual aid groups where members save together and extend each other small loans. Supported by Panzi Foundation, these women have access to land and resources which enables them to supply the plant’s raw material.

A diversified economic model

Beyond alcohol and disinfectants, the plant also sells sugarcane juice as well as purified water. Sold locally, these products help diversify the plant’s revenue and meet the community’s everyday needs, while reinforcing economic viability. By securing access to disinfectants for Bukavu’s health facilities, Panzi’s bioethanol plant shows how a locally driven, women-led solution can build lasting health resilience in a region facing crisis.

Panzi plans to expand this program in coming years, with the goal of further economically empowering women, and also strengthening the region’s health sovereignty.