More than 1,100 women were raped every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, on Tuesday (05/10/2011). That figure shows that sexual violence against women in the country are 26 times more than previously thought.

Based on these studies, more than 400,000 women and girls aged 15-49 years had been raped in war torn countries in Central Africa for 12 months in 2006 and 2007. Based on previous UN reports, cases of rape in the same period only 15,000 cases.

"The (study) we ensure that previous estimates of rape and sexual violence are very far from the true prevalence of sexual violence that occurred in the DRC," said Amber Peterman, principal author of the study.

In fact, according to Peterman, the figure that the study results is still a conservative estimate of the true prevalence of sexual violence. Therefore, not all cases recorded or reported because of fear about the stigma, shame, and social exclusion.

The study, which collected data from 2007, does not include sexual violence among young women aged less than 15 years or women older than 49 years. The study also did not include sexual violence among boys and adult men.

"Although data on sexual violence among these groups is uncertain, a review of the records of 4133 women who visited the Panzi Hospital in Sud Kivu showed 6 percent (of their) younger than 16 years and 10 percent older than 65 years," said study. "In addition, Human Rights Watch reported that sexual violence in 2009 doubled compared to 2008. If the report is accurate, the prevalence of sexual violence may be even higher than the estimates we have to say."

Commenting on the study, Michael van Rooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, said, "Rape in the DRC has become a cancer that spread to everywhere in this climate of impunity and has emerged as one of the major humanitarian crisis at present.