[Response to the COVID-19 Health Crisis from a Gender Perspective: Lessons Learned]

Abstract

Objective: To delve deeper from a gender perspective into the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to address future health crises.

Method: Study with key informants with experience in public health and gender from the Ministerio de Sanidad, ministries of the autonomous communities, Institut Català de la Salut, Hospital de La Princesa, Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública and Universidad País Vasco.

Source of information: individual open-ended questionnaire on health and health inequalities/gender inequalities related to COVID-19. After presenting the findings, the key informants group discussed them in a meeting until reaching a consensus on the lessons learned.

Results: The lack of clinical statistics by sex could compromise epidemiological surveillance, losing the opportunity to characterize the disease. The performance of essential services fell more on women, exhausting them with double and triple shifts; with the differences according to sex in the clinical presentation of COVID-19, and the criteria for hospitalization/admission to the intensive care unit, their access to health care decreased. Increased: gender violence and mental health problems; delaying recognition of the second effects of vaccines in women; partially due to information biases in clinical trials. The gender perspective was lacking in academic, healthcare, and health management areas.

Conclusions: Women's gender dimensions determined their higher frequency of COVID-19 and played a fundamental role in its control. Broadly considering the lessons learned will strengthen prevention systems and be able to provide effective responses to future health crises.

Keywords: COVID-19; Diferencias de sexo; Gender inequity; Gender roles; Gender-bias; Inequidad de género; Roles de género; Sesgo de género; Sex-differences.