Jun 8, 2023
Show Notes for Episode Twenty-Five of seX & whY: Global
Health and Pandemic Responsiveness Through a Sex and Gender
Lens
Host: Jeannette Wolfe
Guests:
- McKinzie
Gales – Fellow at the CDC and co-lead for Phase I of the
multi-agency SAGER IOA project aimed at facilities' better
collection, analysis, and use of sex-disaggregated data and
gendered data for outbreak response.
-
Emelie Yonally Phillips – Global Health consultant and core
member of the Integrated Outbreak Analytics initiative
Definitions
IOA - Integrated Outbreak Analytics
SAGER - Sex and Gender Equity in Research
The Integrated Outbreak Analytics (IOA)
initiative is a collaborative partnership between UNICEF, WHO,
US-CDC, ITM, Epicentre, IFRC, under the umbrella of
GOARN.
The IOA concept started in earnest in 2018 during the Ebola
outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo after it became clear
that more real time, comprehensive on the ground data was needed to
best manage outbreaks in an efficient and effective manner. The
larger-picture concept is that the IOA model sets up a system for
increased interagency data sharing and a process for data
collection that produced more comprehensive information about:
- How infections spread
- How individuals access health systems and how patterns might
evolve over time
- How local sociocultural norms, behaviors and expectations,
impact an outbreak response and community
recovery
The IOA - Creates a more holistic response to outbreaks along
the entire pipeline from prevention to treatment. It creates a
model that puts lots of partners at the table including major
players like Unicef, WHO, CDC, Doctors Without Borders in addition
to local governmental agencies and boots on the ground health care
providers.
Examples of data that may be integrated to provide a clearer
story of what is happening in an outbreak include:
- Surveillance data
- Health information systems data
- Programs data
- Community data
- Timeline event data
- Climate, weather and ecosystems data
- Local economy data
Goal is to apply a multi-disciplinary approach to outbreak
analyses to provide a more holistic and timely understanding of
outbreak dynamics and provide local Ministries of Health and
response actors with rapid evidence to make decisions during an
outbreak.
A key component of IOA is understanding the dynamics of both sex
and gender within outbreaks and outbreak response for more adapted
and appropriate responses. Therefore, IOA systematically works to
collect, analyse and use data disaggregated by sex and inclusive of
gender criteria across all phases of response:
- Prevention
- Detection
- Management/Treatment
- Response
Four phase project
Phase 1:
- Systematic literature review - how are sex and gender being
considered in outbreak response
Phase 2:
- Participatory engagement in real time projects that are using
an IOA and identifying what is already known about site specific
sex and gender differences in tools/programs.
- Developing survey of response actors looking at their current
understanding about sex and gender and how they are or are not
collecting needed information and/or analyzing and using it to
guide interventions.
- Create workshops and small groups to address challenges
identified in survey and key informant interviews, identify
capacities and brainstorm on how to overcome recognized
barriers.
- Co-create practical recommendations and strategies to more
systematically integrate sex and gender into the outbreak analysis
process.
Phase 3:
- Collate Phase 2 responses from several different outbreaks to
develop a larger SAGER IOA model that can then be flexibly applied
to future outbreaks.
Phase 4:
- Pilot testing in different outbreaks
- Evaluating responses and further modification
Great resources
-
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women
Worldwide by Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas Kristof
- More information about the SAGER Guidelines
- Link to previous podcast with Dr
Shirin Heidari who was one of the fundamental drivers of
developing the SAGER Guidelines.