When a young Denis Mukwege qualified in France as a gynaecologist, he planned to spend his career treating women in pregnancy and labour near his African home.

Instead, brutal civil conflict in the Congo turned him into not just the world’s leading expert on treating the damage from sexual violence but also a women’s rights advocate and international campaigner against rape as a weapon of war.

Using surgery to repair the horrific physical damage inflicted on tens of thousands of women and girls is not enough for Dr Mukwege, known as “Doctor Miracle”. He has lobbied at the highest levels against sexual violence and to raise awareness of the conflicts over natural resources that have led to war in the Congo.

It has nearly cost him his life.

Born in Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the third of nine children, he was inspired to become a doctor by his father, a pastor who visited the sick. After studying medicine in Burundi, he worked in a hospital before undertaking gynaecology training in France.

In 1999, he founded the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu as a clinic for gynaecological and obstetric care, whose purpose has switched to caring for survivors of Congo’s epidemic of sexual violence.

Dr Mukwege and his staff have cared for more than 40,000 women, not only with operations but also providing holistic care, with the legal, psychological and social support they need to begin to recover.

The 63-year-old operates on up to 10 women a day, repairing vaginal fistulas – holes created either between the vagina and rectum, or vagina and bladder – a common occurrence after violent rape that can have traumatising long term consequences, leading to women being shunned by their communities.

When I can see how strong women are, all my inspiration comes from them Denis Mukwege

His patients range from girls as young as two to women in their eighties.

The Congolese war, which is believed to have killed at least five million people since 1998, officially ended in 2003 but continues in the east, where rape is a tactic used to brutalise communities to control the country’s mineral wealth.

Many children who arrive at the hospital are themselves the product of conflict rape.

In 2012, in an address at the UN he denounced the conflict, calling for those responsible to face justice, condemning the “deafening silence and lack of courage of the international community”.

Soon afterwards armed men took his daughters hostage and fired on Dr Mukwege. His security guard was shot dead but the bullets narrowly missed him. The attackers fled.

Dr Mukwege took his family to Sweden and then Brussels, living in exile for three months, until the women of Bukavu pleaded for him to return, selling fresh produce to pay for his flight home.

When he arrived back, they lined the streets, cheering.

A children's crisis: Violence and insecurity in Congo Show all 7 1 /7 A children's crisis: Violence and insecurity in Congo A children's crisis: Violence and insecurity in Congo Therese Mulopo and her 4-month-old baby, Mbombo Marth, at Saint Martyr health centre in the city of Kananga. They have come for a one-day nutrition screening session at the Unicef-supported health facility, which provides free treatment for malnourished children. ‘During the clashes, our family found refuge a few kilometres away from a relative. But we didn’t have something to eat every day,’ says Mulopo, who also has two older children (ages five and six). ‘Our children became ill and so they were treated with traditional herbs and leaves. But the diseases, mainly diarrhoea, didn’t stop. With my husband, we used to be farmers. Before, we grew and ate rice and beans but now there is nothing there, because we could not sow any seeds last year. So there is nothing to harvest now. So, we are staying with my sister here. My only wish is to see my children eat and grow up healthy.’ Unicef/Tremeau A children's crisis: Violence and insecurity in Congo Ngalula Badiendele and her children. None of Ms Badiendele’s four children have an appetite, and the two children in her arms, son Kajunga (left), 17 months old, and daughter Tshipala (right), three, are both malnourished. ‘We had to leave to the bush when the clashes broke out. We walked for one day and then built a shelter. We stayed there for one month. When we heard the security was better we came back but soon fights happened again. And we had to leave again to the forest, where we stayed again for one month. Life was not easy at the time. It still isn’t. I just hope peace will come back so my family will live like we used to,’ Badiendele says. Unicef/Tremeau A children's crisis: Violence and insecurity in Congo Ntambwe (who does not know her exact age) holds her brother, Nalula Kelende, three. ‘I brought my brother Nalula to the health clinic because he suffers from malnutrition. My mother is working in the field,’ Ntambwe says. ‘We come from Dibaya [a small town]. When clashes happened, we had to walk during three days to reach Tshikaji. Since the violences, we only eat cassava and, if my parents find some money, we can sometimes buy wheat to cook food. But we often sleep with empty stomachs. All incomes from the harvests are not sufficient this year to cover all the family expenses. Nothing could be sowed this year, so there is nothing to eat anymore. I had to stop school last year because of the clashes. Since then I couldn’t go back because my family doesn’t have enough to buy me a new uniform. I would like to become a nurse one day so I could help sick children just like my brother.’ Unicef/Tremeau A children's crisis: Violence and insecurity in Congo Muya Kapuku and his three-year-old daughter, Chosa, and his malnourished four-year-old son, Muhipay. ‘When insecurity started in Kananga, I took refuge in the bush of Mutoto Village with my family. Food conditions were terrible,’ Kapuku says. ‘We only eat tubers, fufu [a staple food in parts of West and Central Africa] and cassava leaves, once a day preferably in the evening; and these conditions have not changed yet. I lost my job as a sentry where I earned a little money and became unemployed since my return so far. I fear to lose my two children who are malnourished, but fortunately, they benefit from free nutritional care in this health centre. I wish the peace to come back in our province and to have a good job that will allow me to support my household and educate my children.’ Unicef/Tremeau A children's crisis: Violence and insecurity in Congo Bertine Kabedi, 14, and her one-year-old daughter, Bakatuseka. “I came to the health centre because it’s been a month that my daughter doesn’t eat well,” Bertine says. ‘I come from a place called Dibaya. When violence broke out there I fled to Tshikaji to seek refuge. Unfortunately, violence started also in Tshikaji, and so I had to flee to the bush. I lived with my three-month-old newborn during two months in the bush before we came back a month ago. Life wasn’t easy in the forest, there was nothing to eat. Now I would like to set up a small business so I could feed my baby. I had to stop school a few years ago because my parents didn’t have enough to pay for school fees. I want to send my kid to school one day, but if the ongoing troubles continue I know it will be impossible.’ Unicef/Tremeau A children's crisis: Violence and insecurity in Congo Bakena Mukendi, cradling her malnourished daughter, one-month-old Bakatjika, waits with her 28-month-old son, Manatshitua, outside the Saint Martyr health centre. ‘I am a mother of six children,’ Mukendi says. ‘When violence broke out, we had to flee with the whole family to the forest. We stayed there for two months, eating cassava only and palm oil. All my children fell sick then. They suffered from fever and diarrhoea. We had to cure them with traditional health care with tree leaves. I came back four months ago to Tshikaji. Before, I had a small shop, but I lost everything when we ran away – all my savings. My husband now does small jobs so all the family can survive. Despite our situation and small incomes, I am proud to have sent all my children to school, because I know how important education is for their future.’ Unicef/Tremeau A children's crisis: Violence and insecurity in Congo Tshiela Masengu brings in her malnourished grandson Jean, four, to the health centre. ‘My daughter was killed when clashes happened in April 2017, leaving behind her six orphans that I took care of. Jean’s father died a few years ago already,’ Masengu says. ‘During the fights, we took refuge in the forest with all six kids. We stayed there for weeks, without any food. This is when Jean fell sick. That’s why I brought him to the centre, because he suffers from malnutrition. I want him to be better, but I am worried about what tomorrow will bring. I have a small coconut business, but it is not enough to support the family. But I am proud to have sent the two oldest ones (11 and eight) to school this year. I would like all of them to go to school one day. This conflict took away my daughter from me, and destroyed the future of my grandchildren. I would like it to end now.’ Unicef/Tremeau

On coping with death threats, he said: “Because I just thought, ‘Why does this have to happen to me? What am I doing that’s bad? I’m just trying to help people.’ But if you say violence is not a good thing, you become a dissident.”

Today, he lives under the permanent protection of UN peacekeepers at his hospital.

“I don’t have any social life,” he says. “But I’m not complaining, I’m happy to be doing what I’m doing because when I can see how strong women are, all my strength, all my inspiration comes from them.”

Before being awarded the Nobel prize, the father of five had already earned many distinctions. In 2014 he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the highest human rights award of the European Parliament.

In an interview with The Independent about survivors, he said: “They are dehumanised. Most are shamed by what happened to them. Most are excluded from their own community.”

He is also on the advisory committee for the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict.

Eventually, after years of hearing survivors’ accounts, Dr Mukwege had to stop listening to them, saying: “One does not get used to the suffering.”

He has spoken out to demand political will for change so that minerals used in devices such as mobile phones can be mined cleanly.