The Sex, Gender and COVID-19 Health Policy Portal offers the most comprehensive review of the recognition of and response to sex and gender in national COVID-19 public health policies globally. Launched in the context of mounting calls for governments to adopt gender-responsive approaches to the pandemic, the Policy Portal finds little evidence that sex and gender have been considered in policies that directly impact people’s health outcomes.
From the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, sex and gender have had a measurable impact on people’s health. From an individual’s risk of exposure to the virus to their ability to access testing, vaccination and health services and their likelihood of developing severe disease, sex and gender play a determining role.
The Sex, Gender and COVID-19 Health Policy Portal collates and reviews over 450 policies and policy excerpts from 76 countries across all WHO regions and World Bank income groups. Policies are collected under six key areas derived from the WHO pandemic response recommendations: vaccination, public health messaging, clinical management, protection of healthcare workers, disease surveillance, and maintenance of essential health services. All policies have been collected from official Government sources. The policies were examined using the WHO gender-responsiveness assessment scale to understand whether and how they respond to gender inequalities, as well as which populations they target (men, women, transgender people and non-binary people) and whether human rights and equity are considered.
