To support policymakers in making their national action plans on AMR more gender-responsive, the World Health Organization, with support from the Global Strategy Lab, has developed a guidance document including 20 evidence-informed recommendations. These recommendations are based on a review of the existing scientific evidence and input from AMR and gender experts.
Key findings from the research include:
- Traditional gendered paid and unpaid work can lead to increased exposure risk to drug resistant infections. For example, women make up over 70% of the global health workforce.
- Male-dominated professions, including animal husbandry, industrial farming and slaughterhouses, expose men to antibiotics and (drug-resistant) infections.
- Negative experiences with the health system and stigma can deter women and men who have sex with men from seeking specialized care to diagnose and treat sexually-transmitted infections or urinary tract infections.
- Women are 27% more likely to receive antibiotics throughout their lifetime than men.
The policy recommendations included are designed to be tailored to individual country contexts and needs. One of the most fundamental recommendations is that countries should collect data on antimicrobial usage and drug-resistant infections, broken down by sex, age and other socio-economic indicators to generate further evidence on the topic. The report also recommends the inclusion of gender experts and promotion of equal participation of women, men and other vulnerable groups and/or groups facing discrimination in multisectoral AMR coordination mechanism and technical working groups.
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While gender plays an important role in a person’s risk of exposure and vulnerability to drug-resistant infections, few national action plans (NAPs) on AMR include gender considerations. Researchers The detrimental impacts of AMR are not evenly distributed across populations, and disparities, including those based on gender, are evident. Read more.
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