by admin | Apr 24, 2021 | Publications
Peter Baker, Clara Alemann, Stephen Burrell, Derek M. Griffith, Shirin Heidari, Jasmine Kelland, Arush Lal, Sushmita Mukherjee
BMJ Global Health – April 24, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has refocused attention on many health inequalities, not least those related to gender. Globally, men and women are thought to be infected with COVID-19 in roughly equal numbers. But, overall, men are 40% more likely than women to die from COVID-19 and almost three times more likely to require admission to an intensive treatment unit.
Men of colour and men in lower-income groups have suffered particularly high mortality rates. Men’s mental health and wellbeing has suffered in many countries and, at the same time, non-governmental organisations that focus on engaging and supporting men have experienced funding pressures that may lead to reduced services.
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by admin | Apr 19, 2021 | Publications
Michelle Lokot, Amiya Bhatia, Shirin Heidari, Amber Peterman
BMJ Global Health – April 19, 2021
Since early 2020, global stakeholders have highlighted the significant gendered consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, including increases in the risk of gender-based violence (GBV). Researchers have sought to inform the pandemic response through a diverse set of methodologies, including early efforts modelling anticipated increases in GBV. For example, in April 2020, a highly cited modelling effort by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners projected headline global figures of 31 million additional cases of intimate partner violence due to 6 months of lockdown, and an additional 13 million child marriages by 2030. In this paper, we discuss the rationale for using modelling to make projections about GBV, and use the projections released by UNFPA to draw attention to the assumptions and biases underlying model-based projections.
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by admin | Mar 27, 2021 | Publications
Alice Palmer-Ross, Pavel V Ovseiko, Shirin Heidari
BMJ Global Health – March 27, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the implications of sex and gender differences to human health and well-being. Evidence to date indicates that men are at higher risk of severe disease and death than women, while women seem more likely to suffer from long-term COVID-19, and experience negative social and economic impacts. Biological sex as well as gender roles and behaviours can affect exposure to the virus and influence the prevalence of pre-existing conditions or harmful habits. Incorporating sex and gender considerations into clinical research on COVID-19 from the outset would help to identify differential patterns of risk, underlying reasons for disparate outcomes and to develop interventions to effectively respond to the various needs of women and men.
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by admin | Feb 13, 2021 | Publications
Neha S Singh, Michelle Lokot, Chi-Chi Undie, Monica A Onyango, Rosemary Morgan, Anne Harmer, Jane Freedman, Shirin Heidari
The Lancet – February 13, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened inequities and undermined health, human rights, and gender equality for forcibly displaced populations. The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that, at the end of 2019, there were 79·5 million people forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, or events seriously disturbing public order. Evidence about the needs of these populations is crucial to tailor effective and equitable responses, but data collection efforts are faced with considerable new challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many researchers are attempting to overcome such challenges by collecting data remotely, but doing so creates ethical and practical concerns that risk perpetuating gender, racial, and other inequities.
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by admin | Dec 8, 2020 | Publications
Shirin Heidari, Heather Doyle
Health and Human rights Journal – December 08, 2020
The notable gendered socioeconomic, health, and human rights implications of COVID-19 have sparked a renewed conversation on gender data gaps and the risks of gender-blind responses that ignore structural determinants of health and undermine social justice goals. Higher mortality among men, disproportionate social, economic, and health effects on ethnic and racial minorities, high infection rates among the predominantly female health workforce, the rise in violence against women and people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identities, the heavy burden of unpaid care on women, and diminished access to essential services such as sexual and reproductive health services are some of the factors that bring to the fore the urgency of capturing disparities and delivering a gender transformative and equitable response to the pandemic.
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by admin | Aug 31, 2020 | Publications
Shirin Heidari, Claudia Ahumada, Ziyoda Kurbanova, GENDRO Gender, Evidence and Health Network
BMJ Global Health – August 31, 2020
Early data provide evidence that sex and gender are important factors that intersect with each other and with other social determinants to influence susceptibility and vulnerability to COVID-19. Sex and gender, along with other key variables such as age, can influence disease progression, outcome and access to services, as well as social, psychological and economic impacts. Similar patterns have been observed in other global outbreaks (eg, HIV, Ebola, Zika) where a complex interplay of gender and other dimensions of vulnerability have resulted in disparate health outcomes.
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