Gender

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Overview to the Gender and Infectious Disease Training Most capacity building efforts to identify, investigate, and respond to emerging infectious diseases have focused on supporting public health agencies. However, responding effectively to these diseases requires engagement of and coordination with a diversity of professions and stakeholders in both human and animal health, as well as social and environmental sciences. To improve the understanding of the epidemiology, the outcome of diseases, aid in their detection, treatment, and to increase public participation in prevention and control, gender roles must be considered.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa illuminated the importance of gender, social and cultural issues and factors related to emerging pandemics. The spread of the infection was intertwined with cultural beliefs deeply embedded within communities, an area which most medical practitioners and public health workers are ill-equipped to handle. While many public health actors were aware that gender and cultural issues played a role, these key factors were overlooked and sidelined by policy makers, aid agencies, and the multiple teams and actors working to contain the epidemic. Actors working in this space failed to address the gender issues that played a significant role in the transmission and containment of infectious diseases and public health outcomes.

Understanding gender, culture and beliefs is a key public health competency. The gender differential (biological, social, economic, etc.) poses unique health risks for men and women during their life cycle. The diverse roles that men, women, boys and girls occupy create different exposure mechanisms to domestic animals, wildlife and the environment. Gender roles, the distribution of labor, decision-making power, access to and control over resources, and benefit from these resources play an important part in the biosecurity, control, prevention and response to infectious diseases and emerging pandemics. Therefore, gender differences (including barriers and opportunities) need to be addressed to better understand the risks, to help develop effective control and response strategies and to achieve better impact.

This gender training module will allow participants to develop critical analysis skills as they explore how gender, the realm of emerging pandemics threat (EPT) and One Health intersect. It will further help them to appreciate how policies can be developed and/or implemented to meaningfully address diseases and public health threats in a gender sensitive way. Participants will be challenged to consider the implications, barriers and benefits of an engendered One Health approach in preventing and responding to any public health challenges as well as emerging pandemic threats.

OHCEA network recognizes that gender equality, equity and empowerment must be considered in all stages of any program design and is committed to ensuring that social and gender integration is identified as a high priority at institutional, country and regional levels. Gender inequalities interact with other inequalities such as ethnicity, socio-economics class and age. Therefore, gender differences need to be addressed in an intersectional manner to better understand the risks and to help develop effective control and response strategies.

The OHCEA network institutions will use a holistic approach to create more favorable incentives and structures for equitable development and assist country offices to design and implement gender and socially sensitive programs with lasting value. The secretariat will support the awareness-building and knowledge-strengthening activities, and training needed to integrate gender considerations into all aspects of programming.

Goals of the Training

The training is aimed at helping participants:

1. i)  become more effective in their disciplines by being aware of gender dynamics and applying gender sensitive approaches to emerging pandemic prevention, disease control, surveillance and response.
2. ii)  become effective agents of gender responsive One Health approaches using skills and knowledge they have.
3. iii)  become transformative agents by promoting gender equality and equity in all aspects of their work and sharing this information with others.
4. iv)  become gender trainers, helping to incorporate gender sensitive indicators and assessment tools in their courses as well as sharing information with other colleagues.
5. v)  have basic knowledge on how to develop gender inclusive case studies.

Learning Objectives of the Course

Participants will be able to:

1. i)  define and explain One Health concepts and illustrate the value of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach.
   • Describe basic One Health concepts
   • Identify One Health core competencies
   • Apply One Health approach and core competencies in multiple disciplines to resolve public health emergencies
2. ii)  define and explain infectious disease epidemiology and transmission process incorporating a gender sensitive aspect.
   • Explain basic concepts, theory and methods for surveillance, prevention, control and response to emerging pandemic threat.
   • Describe the global problem of emerging zoonotic diseases and the importance of an engendered One Health approach.
   • Analyze how gender impacts and is impacted by emerging pandemics processes.
3. iii)  relate and assess how gender intersects with One Health and emerging pandemics.
   • Identify basic gender principles and related concepts.
   • Be trained in the use of gender analysis tools.
   • Recognize gender gaps in One Health and emerging pandemics threat and identify resources to address those gaps.
   • Develop gender-sensitive emergency response plans.
   • Develop an advocacy plan for engendering One Health and emerging pandemics programs using gender analysis tools and skills.

GENDER, ONE HEALTH AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE TRAINING GUIDE