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Maternal Health and The Pandemic: It’s Not Good News
›COVID-19 has dealt out a double dose of woe for global maternal health. According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the pandemic saw an increase in maternal deaths and an exacerbation of racial disparities driving this overall morbidity. In addition, childbearing people experienced significant anxiety and depression.
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Pandemic Learning: Migrant Care Workers and Their Families Are Essential in a Post-COVID-19 World (New Report)
›“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into the open two things that much of the world has always assumed but not fully acknowledged: women do the vast majority of caregiving, and caregiving is grossly undervalued. Caregiving is also the fastest-growing economic sector in the world—projected to add 150 million jobs by 2030. Global societal changes, like low birth rates, demographic aging, and an increase in female labor force participation, are basic drivers of the continued growth of this sector. But because in many cultures care work is considered “instinctive” for women—a type of work not requiring skill—it has remained virtually invisible, unpaid or underpaid and unregulated. It is also often stigmatized, especially when relegated to already marginalized and underrepresented populations.” – Pandemic Learning: Migrant Care Workers and Their Families Are Essential in a Post-COVID-19 World
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New Global Health & Gender Policy Brief: Mental Health and COVID-19
›The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching, negative impacts on health and well-being, particularly in population mental health. Mental health is strongly related to people’s social environment, and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this greatly. Many countries instituted shutdowns early in the pandemic restricting people’s movement both within and between countries. Shutdowns socially isolated people from one another and often led to poor mental health. The highest rates of mental distress occurred during time periods when COVID-19 mitigation measures were strictest and the number of COVID-19 related deaths was highest.
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Community and Collaboration: Maternal Mental Health in the Infant Formula Crisis
›The infant formula shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic have added fuel to an already existing fire in maternal mental health in the United States.
As Adrienne Griffen, Executive Director of Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance pointed out at a recent event on the COVID-19 pandemic, maternal mental health, and policy solutions, “maternal mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and other issues, affect 1 in 5 pregnant or postpartum people [in the U.S.].”
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COVID-19 Heightens Mental Health Conditions for Vulnerable Communities
›The COVID-19 pandemic has created universal impacts on mental health. Anxiety, depression, and other conditions have worsened as financial instability, isolation, gender-based violence, and other factors generated by this crisis have contributed to poor mental health – especially for youth, LGBTQ+ populations, and pregnant/postpartum women. Yet despite the global attention focused on mental health, overall conditions have only worsened in vulnerable communities.
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The Lasting Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women’s Work, Health, and Safety (New Report)
›While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of many around the world, its effects on women have been particularly devastating. Even before the pandemic, women are highly affected by violence. Since the pandemic, rates of gender-based violence have risen, while uptake of critical health services have decreased. Women, especially low-income women, women of color, and migrant women, are also more likely to work in jobs that are underpaid, undervalued, and unprotected, and they comprise the majority of the frontline or “essential” workforce, which includes grocery and food retail workers, health care workers, and care workers.
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Sex Workers Face Heightened Risks during the COVID-19 Pandemic
›“The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified pre-existing inequalities and vulnerabilities,” writes the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in a recent report on the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers in East and Southern Africa. The pandemic has had an impact on people in marginalized communities around the world, but for sex workers globally, “the impact on livelihoods, human rights and health has been devastating, leaving many struggling to survive,” states the report.
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No Progress Without Quality: Why Quality of Care Matters
›Evidence shows that in low- and middle-income countries, the expansion of health coverage or access to care has not always reduced overall mortality, said Dr. Patricia Jodrey, Child Health Team Lead in the Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). “However, the analysis also showed that when countries have progressed in improving the quality of their health systems, the survival rate tends to improve,” she said.
Showing posts from category Covid-19.