Incorporating Gender into Insecticide-Treated Net Programming and SBCC

Tuesday, April 17, 2018Eric Filemyr, MPH

Agenda

• Background – What is VectorWorks, Why Consider Gender?

• Methods - Gender Equality Continuum, Gender Analysis and Gender Strategy

• Results – Outcomes• Discussion – How Can Considering Gender

Benefit Your Program?

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VectorWorks• VectorWorks is a five-year global project, funded by the

President’s Malaria Initiative, that aims to scale up vector control for malaria prevention through improved distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs), optimal roll-out of promising alternative vector control tools, and global policies that are informed by the use of monitoring and evaluation data. VectorWorks develops and implements better ways to distribute ITNs, conducts research to inform evidence-based decision-making, and works to improve policy at global and country levels.

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Why Consider Gender?

• Gender implications of malaria as related to ITNs are not as obvious as they are for other health issues

• Gendered behaviors impact malaria risk– Household chores– Occupational hazards– Travel

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Where’s the Evidence?

• AIRS project uses women sprayers to gain acceptance into households; female employment improved after addressing gender barriers, especially among supervisors from 17% in 2012 to 46% in 2015 (Donner 2017)

• Discussing net use in the family was associated with an 8% use increase in Nigeria (Kilian 2016)

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Where’s the Evidence

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Age Group

Why Consider Gender?

• Ignoring gender can have negative outcomes for: – Gender equity – Malaria outcomes

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Gender Analysis

• Reviewed > 200 articles on gender and malaria

• Desk review of documents from NetWorks• Interviews with VectorWorks staff• Finding: While NetWorks did consider

gender, had not systematically addressed gender in their work

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Equality and Equity

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http://culturalorganizing.org/the-problem-with-that-equity-vs-equality-graphic/

Gender Continuum

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Gender Continuum. Interagency Gender Working Group. Retrieved April 4, 2018, fromhttps://www.igwg.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FG_GendrIntegrContinuum.pdf.

Gender Continuum

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Gender Continuum. Interagency Gender Working Group. Retrieved April 4, 2018, from https://www.igwg.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FG_GendrIntegrContinuum.pdf.

Gender Strategy

• Policy: Present on gender research and disseminate findings at the global level

• Monitoring and Evaluating and Operations Research: collect, analyze, and apply age and sex disaggregated data, and create opportunities for men and women to provide feedback during evaluations

• Implementation: Review documents to make sure they are gender aware and create gender aware SBCC messaging

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Gender Strategy – Field Offices

• Lead gender trainings in country offices in Ghana and Tanzania

• Identify “Gender Champions” amongst the field staff to advocate for gender-aware and transformative activities

• Ghana and Tanzania to develop country-specific gender strategies.

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Outcomes - Ghana

• Equal number of male and female roles

• Depicting men and women equally in SBCC posters at clinics depicting net care.

• Intentionally sought female applicants for Chief of Party

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Outcomes - Tanzania

• Men and women represented in project photography

• Gender Champions reviewing SBCC materials

• Hired female driver

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Outcomes

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© 2016 Riccardo Gangale/VectorWorks, Courtesy of Photoshare

Discussion: What’s Next

• VectorWorks is looking at gender with:– Misuse of nets– Residual transmission

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How Can Considering Gender Benefit Your Program?

• Help increase gender equity• Benefit your programmatic (malaria)

outcomes

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Acknowledgements

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References• Donner, A., Belemvire. A., Johns, B., Mangam, K., Flekowsky,

E., Gunn, J., Hayden, M., & Ernst, K. (2017). Equal opportunity, equal work: Increasing women's participation in the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative Africa Indoor Residual Spraying Project. Global Health: Science and Practice, 5(4): 603-616. doi: 10.9745/GHSP-D-17-00189.

• Kilian, A., Lawford, H., Ujuju, C.N., Tarekegn, A.A., Nwokolo, E., Okoh, F., & Baba, E. (2016). The impact of behaviour change communication on the use of insecticide treated nets: a secondary analysis of ten post-campaign surveys from Nigeria. Malaria Journal, 15:422.

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