A Broad Generalization Leads to a Big Oversight

This morning, I saw another article on rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I know. Hearing about rape in what is considered by the UN as the "rape capital of the world" can be overbearing, but this article was rather interesting.

A source in the BBC News article stated the situation in the DR Congo is bad, but there are other angles that were not considered in the study conducted by the American Journal of Public Health. One factor (a very important one) that she said was not considered was the women who report they were raped to get free health care, since many people in DR Congo live at or below the poverty line and can barely afford health care if not at all.

As I read the article, I was not surprised that this was to clear up a massive generalization. Of course, when it comes to Africa, even in educated circles, we tend ignore several factors that could lead to any results. Yes, the DR Congo has a high rate of sexual violence, but, as we have seen time and time again with African situations (Libya, Ivory Coast most recently), they are far more complicated than numbers and statistics. Once we begin to understand the diversity on the world's second largest continent and how each country has unique problems, then maybe we won't have overgeneralized errors and more scientific studies of situations in Africa.