[THE EDITH WOLFSON CENTER FOR VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT - LESSONS FROM 17 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE].

The Center for Victims of Sexual Assault at Wolfson's Medical Center is the first of its kind in Israel. It was launched in 2000 by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and has since served over 4000 victims. The center provides care by a multidisciplinary team of gynecologists, social workers, forensic physicians, and police investigators, in a single place and with a supporting atmosphere. To review the characteristics of female victims who were treated in the Center for Victims of Sexual Assault at Wolfson's Medical Center between 2000 and 2017. This is a retrospective observational study. The data of all female victims who were treated in our center were retrieved from the medical files. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board. During the study period, 3598 (90.5%) women and 376 (9.5%) men were treated in our center. The mean age of the female victims was 23.0 years, of whom 27.1% were minors. Most victims (69.8%) arrived at the center within 24 hours from the assault. The victim knew the perpetrator before the assault in half of the cases. About half of the assaults occurred on weekends. The victims reported a high rate of alcohol and drug use before the assault (36.2% and 8.1%, respectively), and this rate has increased over the years. Most victims (70.4%) filed a police report, though this rate has decreased over the years. The Center for Victims of Sexual Assault at Wolfson's Medical Center treats many victims each year. The challenges that we will face in the future are education against irresponsible use of alcohol and drugs, and efforts to increase the proportion of victims willing to report to the police.