COVID-19: A Gender Lens. Protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights, and promoting gender equality

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“Disease outbreaks affect women and men differently,” says the new UNFPA guidance document, which covers how gender is playing a role in the unfolding pandemic. “Pandemics make existing gender inequalities for women and girls worse, and can impact how they receive treatment and care.” Download

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COVID-19 and its implications for local peacebuilding

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This blogpost by Mie Roesdahl argues that peacebuilders must seek out creative ways to conduct their much-needed peacebuilding work even at a time when their space for physical movement may be decreasing, and that they must seek out ways to contribute to preventing and dealing with the potential negative consequences of the pandemic on peacebuilding efforts. Based on their knowledge, Conducive Space for Peace recommend the following: That funders and funding mechanisms allow for more…

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Human Rights Dimensions of COVID-19 Response

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International human rights law guarantees everyone the right to the highest attainable standard of health and obligates governments to take steps to prevent threats to public health and to provide medical care to those who need it. Human rights law also recognizes that in the context of serious public health threats and public emergencies threatening the life of the nation, restrictions on some rights can be justified when they have a legal basis, are strictly…

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How COVID-19 Could Be Like the Global Financial Crisis (Or Worse)

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The world is living its worst scare since the global financial crisis (GFC) in the form of COVID-19, now officially declared a pandemic. Will the socioeconomic toll of thei pandemic be as large as that experienced during the GFC? In both the GFC and the current health crisis it is apparent that the markets will not produce a solution, and that aggressive policy intervention and globally coordinated national action is needed to slow, and ultimately…

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What Might Africa Teach the World? Covid-19 and Ebola Virus Disease Compared

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In this blog post, Paul Richards compares Ebola to COVID-19 and argues that Africa’s experience of Ebola has something to offer when it comes to responding to COVID-19. Communities experiencing Ebola in West Africa in 2014-15 rapidly learnt from scratch how to cope with a deadly new infection, and this provides the rest of the world with important information on strategies to address novel disease threats more generally.   Read more

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COVID-19: the gendered impacts of the outbreak

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Writing this comment on behalf of the Gender and COVID-19 Working Group, the authors argue that policies and public health efforts have not addressed the gendered impacts of disease outbreaks, and that the response to Covid-19 appears no different. They are not aware of any gender analysis of the outbreak by global health institutions or governments in affected countries or in preparedness phases. Recognising the extent to which disease outbreaks affect women and men differently…

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Gender and the Coronavirus Outbreak

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This article argues that while most of the questions currently asked with relation to Covid-19 are of a scientific and technical nature, crucial to containing the outbreak; such as, how infectious is it? How long does it incubate in the body before you get sick? And can it be spread by people who have no symptoms?, there are other, unanswered questions that also need to be addressed but are rarely even asked. The author’s own…

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Civil War & the Global Threat of Pandemics

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This essay confronts the collision of two potential global threats: the outbreak of infectious pandemics and the outbreak and protraction of civil wars. Specifically, it addresses the potential that civil wars can elevate the risk that an infectious outbreak will emerge; the possibility that civil wars can reduce the capacity to identify and respond to outbreaks; and the risk that outbreaks in areas of civil conflict can generate political and security challenges that may threaten…

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A gendered human rights analysis of Ebola and Zika: locating gender in global health emergencies

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Globally gender remains a key factor in differing health outcomes for men and women. This article analyses the particular relevance of gender for debates about global health and the role for international human rights law in supporting improved health outcomes during public health emergencies. Looking specifically at the recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks, what we find particularly troubling in both cases is the paucity of engagement with human rights language and the diverse backgrounds of…

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The Security Sector and Global Health Crises: Lessons and Prospects

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The recent Ebola outbreak in Western Africa has had serious implications for human security and economic development in the affected countries. The economic, security and humanitarian dimensions of such a health crisis call for action in different sectors and at several levels – global, regional, national and local. The challenges that emerged to assist affected nations in managing and containing the Ebola outbreak raise the question as to which contributions local and international security institutions…

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