The ‘Gender Norms in Vector Control Programmes: Sharing Experiences Between Africa and Brazil’ project is supported by Grand Challenges, an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It will see collaboration and exchange between LSE LACC, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), and the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE).
Clare Wenham (Assistant Professor, LSE Department of Health Policy), Denise Pimenta (Researcher, Fiocruz), Gabriela Lotta (Professor, FGV), Theresia Estomih Nkya (Post-doctoral Research Fellow, ICIPE and Lecturer, University of Dar-Es-Salaam) will lead the research.
The project will explore gender in arbovirus control through qualitative fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro to understand how gender affects programmatic activity and by sharing parallel experiences between African and Brazilian experts. The hypothesis is that sustainable vector control failures may be linked to limited engagement with gender sensitivities in programme implementation.
Arbovirus viruses are viruses transmitted by mosquitoes or ticks. Vector control is any method to limit or eradicate the mammals, birds, insects or other arthropods that transmit disease pathogens. These diseases are multipliers of vulnerability by contributing to the reproduction of poverty and inequality, and by adding to the burden already experienced by women and families from vulnerable backgrounds.
The project will investigate how gender sensitivities affects the implementation and success of programmes, including between community health workers (CHWs), vector control agents, organisations leading innovation in vector control, as well as policy makers. The aim is to produce evidence-based policy to involve more women in vector control, which will increase programme sustainability.
Please find the most recent publication from this project here: Examining the intersection between gender, community health workers and vector control policies: a text mining literaure review. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2021).
The project aims to make systematic or incremental policy change to reduce inequalities suffered by women in endemic areas of arboviruses through three key steps:
1) Development of a gender mainstreamed vector control policy, which can then be piloted at a potential second stage to see whether gender is a meaningful determinant of the success of vector control.
2) Development of training materials for policy makers and community health workers (CHWs), considering gender within broader policy and implementation.
3) Collaboration with Tanzanian partners for cross-continental research on the gendered impacts of vector control to develop a globally applicable evidence base.
Photo banner: Combatting mosquitoes in Brazil. Luiz Fabiano, Prefeitura de Olinda, 2016. CC BY 2.0.