Gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making

Abstract Background The impacts of infectious disease outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics are not gender neutral. Instead, infectious diseases and gender-based violence (GBV) mutually reinforce each other. Women and girls in humanitarian settings are disproportionately impacted as crises exacerbate...

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Autores principales:	Melissa Meinhart, Luissa Vahedi, Simone E. Carter, Catherine Poulton, Philomene Mwanze Palaku, Lindsay Stark
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	BMC 2021
Materias:	Special situations and conditions RC952-1245 Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aid RC86-88.9
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2ae13f27b0c24e8db6fe6dc38ee17245
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2ae13f27b0c24e8db6fe6dc38ee172452021-11-21T12:07:40ZGender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making10.1186/s13031-021-00419-91752-1505https://doaj.org/article/2ae13f27b0c24e8db6fe6dc38ee172452021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-021-00419-9https://doaj.org/toc/1752-1505Abstract Background The impacts of infectious disease outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics are not gender neutral. Instead, infectious diseases and gender-based violence (GBV) mutually reinforce each other. Women and girls in humanitarian settings are disproportionately impacted as crises exacerbate gender inequality, violence, and community transmission. A syndemic model of infectious disease and GBV draws attention to their critical linkage, enabling more effective approaches to address both infectious disease transmission and GBV prevalence. Main body Implementation of infectious disease control measures have been consistently absent of critical gender considerations in humanitarian settings. We drew learnings from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to highlight how women and girls living in humanitarian settings have faced bi-directional syndemic vulnerabilities between GBV and infectious disease. Our findings indicate that Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 exacerbated GBV risk and experience of GBV increased community transmission of these infectious diseases. Moreover, we identified a failure of existing policies to address this mutually deleterious linkage. Thus, we advocate for policymakers to ask three foundational questions: (i) What are the gendered bi-directional risk pathways between infectious disease and GBV?; (ii) How can we act on the gendered risk pathways?; and, (iii) Who should be involved in designing, implementing, and evaluating gender-sensitive policies? Conclusion Our syndemic policy framework challenges existing thinking on a neglected issue that disproportionally impacts women and girls. By offering foundational guidance to address and thwart the syndemic of infectious disease and GBV in humanitarian settings, we endeavor to proactively and holistically address the reinforcing linkage between GBV and current or emergent infectious diseases.Melissa MeinhartLuissa VahediSimone E. CarterCatherine PoultonPhilomene Mwanze PalakuLindsay StarkBMCarticleSpecial situations and conditionsRC952-1245Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aidRC86-88.9ENConflict and Health, Vol 15, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special situations and conditions RC952-1245 Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aid RC86-88.9
spellingShingle	Special situations and conditions RC952-1245 Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aid RC86-88.9 Melissa Meinhart Luissa Vahedi Simone E. Carter Catherine Poulton Philomene Mwanze Palaku Lindsay Stark Gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making
description	Abstract Background The impacts of infectious disease outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics are not gender neutral. Instead, infectious diseases and gender-based violence (GBV) mutually reinforce each other. Women and girls in humanitarian settings are disproportionately impacted as crises exacerbate gender inequality, violence, and community transmission. A syndemic model of infectious disease and GBV draws attention to their critical linkage, enabling more effective approaches to address both infectious disease transmission and GBV prevalence. Main body Implementation of infectious disease control measures have been consistently absent of critical gender considerations in humanitarian settings. We drew learnings from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to highlight how women and girls living in humanitarian settings have faced bi-directional syndemic vulnerabilities between GBV and infectious disease. Our findings indicate that Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 exacerbated GBV risk and experience of GBV increased community transmission of these infectious diseases. Moreover, we identified a failure of existing policies to address this mutually deleterious linkage. Thus, we advocate for policymakers to ask three foundational questions: (i) What are the gendered bi-directional risk pathways between infectious disease and GBV?; (ii) How can we act on the gendered risk pathways?; and, (iii) Who should be involved in designing, implementing, and evaluating gender-sensitive policies? Conclusion Our syndemic policy framework challenges existing thinking on a neglected issue that disproportionally impacts women and girls. By offering foundational guidance to address and thwart the syndemic of infectious disease and GBV in humanitarian settings, we endeavor to proactively and holistically address the reinforcing linkage between GBV and current or emergent infectious diseases.
format	article
author	Melissa Meinhart Luissa Vahedi Simone E. Carter Catherine Poulton Philomene Mwanze Palaku Lindsay Stark
author_facet	Melissa Meinhart Luissa Vahedi Simone E. Carter Catherine Poulton Philomene Mwanze Palaku Lindsay Stark
author_sort	Melissa Meinhart
title	Gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making
title_short	Gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making
title_full	Gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making
title_fullStr	Gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making
title_full_unstemmed	Gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making
title_sort	gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from ebola, zika, and covid-19 to inform syndemic policy making
publisher	BMC
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/2ae13f27b0c24e8db6fe6dc38ee17245
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Gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making

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