Equity-based pandemic preparedness recognizes that responses to health crisis can worsen existing social, economic, and health inequities, as well as create new ones. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. A team-based approach – including all sectors of government and civil society – can provide a robust response to pandemics and protect against inequitable […]
Pandemics disproportionately affect women due to their dominant roles in healthcare, caregiving, and industries vulnerable to public health policies. Women face higher infection risks, greater unpaid care burdens, and job losses during crises. Violence against women and disrupted access to healthcare, including sexual and reproductive services, also increase. Despite clear evidence of these effects, global […]
Public health emergencies – such as pandemics and health crises arising out conflict, and emergencies rising out of the defunding of global health programmes – require a specific gender lens. Previous work highlights this, including Gavi’s gender checklist for vaccine deployment and Matahari’s COVID-19 and gender report. With support from the Gender in Public Health […]
In this blog Leslie Njingang explores the hidden threat of the misdiagnosis of Long Covid due to bias around race, ethnicity, religion, gender, weight, age, and more, and looks at recommendations for addressing this implicit bias and misdiagnosis. In the past year alone, the number of people who have had Long Covid in the United […]
On the 28th of May, we celebrate ten years of Menstrual Hygiene Day. It is a time to reflect on the success of the movement, as well as galvanise action for this still largely neglected and under-funded area of sexual and reproductive health, rights and bodily autonomy. In 2022, the 50th session of the Human Rights […]
A growing literature has documented how the secondary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have compounded socioeconomic vulnerabilities already present in society, particularly across social categories such as gender, race, class, and socioeconomic status. Such effects demonstrate how pandemic response policies act as structural determinants of health to influence not only direct health outcomes but also […]
Historical marginalisation and ongoing trust deficits in health and government systems shape present-day vaccine perceptions among marginalised communities. This paper sought to understand the role of trust in decision-making about COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the transgender and disability communities in India. Using a participatory approach researchers interviewed 24 community representatives, identifying themselves as transgender individuals […]
The COVID-19 pandemic was marked by vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics apartheid, as well as the decimation of health systems. In this report, from Matahari Global Solutions, the gender-related barriers to accessing COVID-19 vaccines are explored. Through a process of interviewing 25 individuals from global health agencies, UN agencies, civil society organisations (including feminist and LGBTQIA+ […]
This report documents the experiences of women hotel workers—a group of women who have been deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but rarely represented in media, research or policy debates. It draws on focus groups and interviews with 27 women hotel workers in B.C. Canada, the majority of whom are immigrant and racialized women. Their […]
The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected those who face historical and ongoing marginalisation. In centering pandemic experience of recent immigrant women in the accommodation and food services sector in Canada, we examine how their precarious work translated to experiences of work precarity and wellbeing. This paper illuminates how pre-existing and ongoing marginalisation are reproduced during a […]
We meet online every month to discuss key issues, activities, opportunities and ideas for collaboration. We have a long and growing list of resources on gender and public health emergencies.
We meet online every month to discuss key issues, activities, opportunities and ideas for collaboration. We have a long and growing list of resources on gender and public health emergencies.
