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Commentary
Gendered implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for policies and programmes in humanitarian settings
  1. Sarah Fuhrman1,
  2. Anushka Kalyanpur2,
  3. Susannah Friedman1,
  4. Nguyen Toan Tran3
  1. 1 Humanitarian Policy & Practice, CARE USA, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
  2. 2 Global Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, CARE USA, Washington, DC, United States
  3. 3 The Australian Centre for Public and Population Health Research, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Sarah Fuhrman; sarah.fuhrman{at}care.org

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002624

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    Summary box

    • Although preliminary analysis indicates that COVID-19 poses the highest risk to men, the elderly, and those with comorbidities, available research on the gendered implications of past public health emergencies—such as that from the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak—demonstrates that women and girls are disproportionately affected, particularly those who live in ongoing humanitarian crises.

    • Our experience in previous humanitarian and public health emergencies indicated a need for practical, gender-sensitive recommendations for humanitarian practitioners that uphold the rights of affected populations. Consequently, we conducted a rapid analysis of the potential policy and programmatic implications of COVID-19 on women and girls.

    • Our findings indicate that the pandemic will affect every aspect of the lives of women and girls. Their health will suffer, and they will have increased needs for protection, sanitation, shelter, education, food and livelihood support in the short term and long term.

    • These findings informed recommendations that include: support women’s and girls’ leadership to ensure that COVID-19 prevention and control measures do not exacerbate harmful norms; bolster water, sanitation and hygiene services along with psychosocial support, essential health services, safe shelter and the provision of food, nutrition and hygiene commodities; prepare to respond to possible surges in gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse; and ensure that vulnerable populations are included in national surveillance, preparedness and response plans and activities.

    Introduction

    First detected in China’s Hubei Province in late 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly, leading the WHO to declare a global pandemic on 11 March 2020.1 Initial data indicates that older persons and those with underlying medical conditions are most likely to suffer serious complications.2

    While COVID-19 could have a devastating impact in any context, the dangers of the pandemic will be magnified for the nearly 168 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection worldwide, …

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