Denis Mukwege is a Congolese

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

 gynecologist. Working in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu

Bukavu

Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo , lying at the extreme south-eastern extent of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the Sud-Kivu province and as of 2009 it had an estimated population of...

, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been gang-raped by Rwandan militia, Mukwege has probably become the world's leading expert on how to repair the internal physical damage caused by gang rape. He has treated several thousands of women since the 1998 Congo's war, some of them more than once, performing up to 10 surgeries a day during his 18-hour working days. He has described how his patients arrive at the hospital sometimes naked, usually bleeding and leaking urine

Urine

Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...

 and faeces from torn vagina

Vagina

The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...

s.

Early life

Mukwege was the third of nine children born to a Pentecostal minister and his wife. He studied medicine because he wanted to heal the sick that his father prayed for, working at first in a rural hospital, then traveling to France to study gynecology, after seeing the complications of childbirth experienced by women in the Congo who had no access to specialist healthcare.

Awards

• Republic of France "Special Human Rights Prize 2007" taken to Panzi Hospital
  Panzi Hospital
  Panzi Hospital was founded in 1999 in Bukavu, the capital of the Sud-Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It specializes in treating survivors of violence, the large majority of whom have been sexually abused.Director Dr...
  
   in Bukavu by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs Rama Yade
  Rama Yade
  Rama Yade is a French politician who served in the government of France from 2007 to 2010. She was Secretary of State for Sports and married to Joseph Zimet - son of Yiddish singer Ben Zimet, an adviser to Secretary of State Jean-Marie Bockel.- Early life :Yade was born in Ouakam, Senegal. She...
  
   (June 2008)
• UN Human Rights prize
  United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights
  The United Nations Prizes in the Field of Human Rights were instituted by United Nations General Assembly in 1966.They are intended to "honour and commend people and organizations which have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of the human rights embodied in the...
  
   (New York, December 2008)
• Olof Palme Prize
  Olof Palme Prize
  The Olof Palme Prize is an annual prize awarded for an outstanding achievement in the spirit of Olof Palme. The Prize consists of a diploma and 75,000 US dollars.-Receivers of the Olof Palme Prize :*1987 Cyril Ramaphosa...
  
   (Sweden, January 2009)
• African of the Year (Nigeria, January 2009), awarded by Daily Trust
• Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur
  Légion d'honneur
  The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
  
   by the French government (French Embassy / Kinshasa, November 2009)
• In October 2010, Mukwege received the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan
  University of Michigan
  The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
  
  
• The King Baudouin International Development Prize
  The King Baudouin International Development Prize
  The King Baudouin Foundation is an independent and pluralistic foundation based in Brussels whose aim is to serve society. The Foundation was created in 1976, to mark the 25th anniversary of King Baudouin’s reign. Its main objective is to make a lasting contribution to justice, democracy and...
  
   (May 24, 2011)
• Clinton Global Citizen Award for Leadership in Civil Society (New York, September 22, 2011)