Aug 4, 2023
Show Notes for Episode Twenty-Five of seX & whY, Part 2: Global Health and Pandemic Responsiveness Through a Sex and Gender Lens
Host: Jeannette Wolfe
Guests: McKinzie Gales and Emelie Yonally Phillips
Phase 1 of the sex and gender equity in research (SAGER)
for Integrated Outbreak Analytics (IOA) study involved A
systematic literature review
Of the 15,000+ articles in their original search, only 71 articles examined potential sex and/or gender related factors associated with outbreaks in low- and middle-income countries.
Although currently there is very limited data on the impact that
sex and/or gender play in outbreaks and pandemics, what is known,
underscores the complexity of these relationships. Studying
specific outbreaks in specific contexts
McKinzie highlighted that when there is a
lack of gender and sex sensitive responses in
outbreaks, evidence suggests that
women, girls, and those with female anatomy are
disproportionately negatively affected. For example, women are at
greater risk for gender- based violence during a lock down
and those with female anatomy are more directly impacted
by the diversion of health care resources from clinics that offer
reproductive health and pregnancy related services.
We went through an example as to how the SAGER IOA model might work in a theoretical outbreak. In establishing a functioning multi-disciplinary team, Emelie emphasized the importance of working within local systems to build long term relationships, community trust and capacity. She underscored how critical it was to understand the values and priorities of the individuals most impacted by the outbreak and to ensure they had a voice in decision-making. She also discussed the importance of effective and transparent community health messaging- particularly if new data suggests a change from current practice. A recent example of this was the confusion experienced by many pregnant women surrounding the safety of Ebola vaccination.
Emelie also spotlighted the opportunity to better understand how gender nonconforming and sexual minorities experience outbreaks as there is currently an absence of data on these groups. Finally, she emphasized that the failure of considering sex and gender specific needs in an outbreak can have tremendous downstream effects. Specifically, generational poverty, educational and professional inequities, gross domestic product, global trade, and security can all be impacted.
One of the other interesting areas we touched upon was how personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical related equipment was initially designed for the anatomy and physiology of a male body and may not always work for a female one. Below are a few articles on this point.
Respiratory Personal Protective Equipment for Healthcare Workers. This study reported findings on adequate mask fitting in one hospital system’s fit test data for FF3 masks. Their data set suggested that 18% of women had an inadequate FF3 mask fit compared to 10% of men.
Here is a very interesting article that further explores whether medical equipment should be adjusted to better fit the anatomical variations of different users. The article - Does surgeon sex and anthropometry matter for tool usability in traditional laparoscopic surgery? makes a strong argument that most of the advances in laparoscopic surgical equipment have previously focused on accommodating different patient related factors and that their remains an opportunity to modify products to better align with anatomical characteristics of different users. In turn, this may help enhance performance, outcome, and injury prevention of the users - AKA in this case the surgeons.
Thanks for listening and be well.