Gender and neglected tropical disease front-line workers: Data from 16 countries

English version

Autoři: Erica A. Shoemaker ^aff001; Kelly Dale ^aff002; Daniel A. Cohn ^aff003; Maureen P. Kelly ^aff001; Kathryn L. Zoerhoff ^aff001; Wilfrid E. Batcho ^aff004; Clarisse Bougouma ^aff005; Georges B. Nko’Ayissi ^aff006; Aboulaye Meite ^aff007; Benjamin Marfo ^aff008; André Goepogui ^aff009; Marc-Aurele Telfort ^aff010; Lita Renata Sianipar ^aff011; Mahamadou Traore ^aff012; Pradip Rimal ^aff013; Djibo Aichatou Alfari ^aff014; Chukwuma Anyaike ^aff015; Fatou N. Badiane ^aff016; Ibrahim Kargbo-Labour ^aff017; Upendo J. Mwingira ^aff018; Marcel S. Awoussi ^aff020; Rachel D. Stelmach ^aff001; Carly L. Smith ^aff021; Jennifer Arney ^aff003; Taroub Harb Faramand ^aff002; Diana M. Stukel ^aff003; Bolivar Pou ^aff003; Lisa A. Rotondo ^aff001; John D. Kraemer ^aff001; Margaret C. Baker ^aff001
Působiště autorů: RTI International, Washington, DC, United States of America ^aff001; WI-HER, Vienna, Virginia, United States of America ^aff002; FHI 360, Washington, DC, United States of America ^aff003; National Communicable Disease Control Program, Ministry of Health, Cotonou, Republic of Benin ^aff004; National Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program, Disease Control Directorate, Ministry of Health, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso ^aff005; Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases Sub-Department, Ministry of Public Health, Yaoundé, Republic of Cameroon ^aff006; National Control Program for Preventive Chemotherapy Neglected Tropical Diseases, Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, Abidjan, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire ^aff007; National Neglected Tropical Diseases Program, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Republic of Ghana ^aff008; National Onchocerciasis and Blindness and Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program, National Prevention and Community Health Directorate, Ministry of Health, Conakry, Republic of Guinea ^aff009; National Malaria Control Program, Ministry of Public Health and Population, Port-au-Prince, Republic of Haiti ^aff010; Sub-Directorate of Filariasis & Helminthiasis Control, Directorate of Vector Borne Disease Control, Directorate General of Communicable Disease and Environmental Health, Ministry of Health, Jakarta, Republic of Indonesia ^aff011; National Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminths Control Program, Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, Bamako, Mali ^aff012; Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, Department of Health Services, Ministry of Health, Kathmandu, Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ^aff013; NTD Control Program, Directorate of the Protection of Public Health, Ministry of Public Health, Niamey, Republic of Niger ^aff014; Department of Public Health, Neglected Tropical Diseases Division, Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria ^aff015; NTD Control Program, Disease Control Directorate, Ministry of Health and Social Work, Dakar, Senegal ^aff016; Neglected Tropical Diseases Programme, Disease Prevention and Control Directorate, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Freetown, Republic of Sierra Leone ^aff017; Neglected Tropical Diseases Control Programme, Ministry of Health, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania ^aff018; National Institute for Medical Research, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania ^aff019; National Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program, General Directorate of Health, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Lomé, Republic of Togo ^aff020; Office of Infectious Diseases, US Agency for International Development, Washington, DC, United States of America ^aff021; Department of Health Systems Administration, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States of America ^aff022
Vyšlo v časopise: PLoS ONE 14(12)
Kategorie: Research Article
prolekare.web.journal.doi_sk: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224925

Souhrn

Background

Delivery of preventive chemotherapy (PC) through mass drug administration (MDA) is used to control or eliminate five of the most common neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The success of an MDA campaign relies on the ability of drug distributors and their supervisors—the NTD front-line workers—to reach populations at risk of NTDs. In the past, our understanding of the demographics of these workers has been limited, but with increased access to sex-disaggregated data, we begin to explore the implications of gender and sex for the success of NTD front-line workers.

Methodology/Principal findings

We reviewed data collected by USAID-supported NTD projects from national NTD programs from fiscal years (FY) 2012–2017 to assess availability of sex-disaggregated data on the workforce. What we found was sex-disaggregated data on 2,984,908 trainees trained with financial support from the project. We then analyzed the percentage of males and females trained by job category, country, and fiscal year. During FY12, 59% of these data were disaggregated by sex, which increased to nearly 100% by FY15 and was sustained through FY17. In FY17, 43% of trainees were female, with just four countries reporting more females than males trained as drug distributors and three countries reporting more females than males trained as trainers/supervisors. Except for two countries, there were no clear trends over time in changes to the percent of females trained.

Conclusions/Significance

There has been a rapid increase in availability of sex-disaggregated data, but little increase in recruitment of female workers in countries included in this study. Women continue to be under-represented in the NTD workforce, and while there are often valid reasons for this distribution, we need to test this norm and better understand gender dynamics within NTD programs to increase equity.

Klíčová slova:

Jobs – Supervisors – Neglected tropical diseases – Social systems – Nepal – Trainees – Drug policy – Senegal

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