gender forum

Stakeholder forum: development and implementation of policies for the collection, analysis and reporting of sex and gender data in health and medical research

On May 19, the Sex & Gender Policies in Medical Research project team of The George Institute and the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW Sydney, hosted a targeted virtual event. Almost 50 stakeholders participated in a lively discussion, identifying barriers and facilitators for the development and implementation of policies for the collection, analysis and reporting of sex and gender data in health and medical research in the Australian context. Stakeholders represented a range of critical perspectives across the health and medical research sector including researchers, clinicians, policy makers, advocates and community organisations.

The discussion of barriers and facilitators for developing and implementing these policies highlighted several priority themes, including:

1. The need for institutional and individual leadership and buy-in to drive, monitor and support such policies.

2. The challenges that arise due to a lack of consistent and universally accepted understanding, language and terminology for sex and gender across disciplines, organisations and sectors.

3. Limitations of current research methods for recruitment, data collection and analysis, and the need for a cultural shift, as well as training and support for researchers to adopt new approaches.

These, along with other discussion points, will be incorporated into our future research and strategic priorities.

This event was a follow-up to the 2018 forum – Ensuring the collection, analysis and reporting of sex and gender specific health data in Australia  - hosted by The George Institute for Global Health and Bupa Health Foundation, with international guest Professor Londa Schiebinger. Importantly, since the event in 2018 a call to action was published in the Medical Journal of Australia, and, in collaboration with the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW Sydney, The George Institute secured three years of philanthropic funding to continue and expand this work.

Leads

Further reading

Event

COVID-Care@Home – Innovation Challenge by TGI Health Accelerator Programme

COVID Care at Home – Innovation Challenge by TGI Health Accelerator Programme

The ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases across India has overwhelmed the healthcare delivery systems capacity. In this context, many citizens affected by COVID-19 are trying to manage themselves at home. As the transmission of COVID-19 continues unabated across the country, populations living in rural areas are facing severe brunt due to existing challenges to routine health care services. There is an urgent need to develop solutions that address the challenges faced by people with COVID-19 with a special focus on rural India and other south east Asian countries.  
The George Institute for Global Health, India Health Accelerator Programme is launching an innovation challenge “Covid-Care@Home, the programme will include an ideathon and a hackathon dedicated to developing /identifying solutions that will support effective home-based care for COVID-19 to support families and communities in rural areas.

Categories

  • Management of COVID-19 at home and post COVID complications – With an acute shortage of hospital beds and suboptimal access to timely in-patient care in many parts of rural India, a large number of citizens will be required to manage themselves with COVID at home. We are seeking solutions that support and empower people with minimal literacy to engage in self-care, identify worsening of symptoms and seek health assistance in case of any worsening of symptoms.
  • Ensuring access to essential medical supplies for management of COVID-19 - Shortage of essential medical supplies has become the most prominent issue of the pandemic crisis. We are seeking solutions that enable better management of the supply chain and provide transparency to various stakeholders, also disruptive distribution mechanisms that will ensure doorstep access to essential tools for self-management of COVID-19 at home.
  • Tools for dissemination of verified information and tackling misinformation – unproven cures for COVID-19 are rampantly being disseminated and practiced across the country. The misinformation epidemic is wreaking havoc and preventing people from accessing the right care and contributing to vaccine hesitancy. We are seeking solutions that allow for mass information dissemination of verified information and support citizens in their decision making concerning COVID-19 management.
  • Mental health support for frontline health workers and people affected by COVID-19 – While physical health is primarily in focus, the mental health impact of the pandemic is exponentially rising. Moreover, the prolonged nature of this public crisis has pushed healthcare workers to their limits and devasted thousands of families. We are seeking solutions that provide timely quality mental health support to frontline health workers and people affected by COVID.

Participation Criteria:

  • Ideathon is open to school and college students up to those undergoing their master's programme
  • Hackathon is open to both individual innovators and companies. 

Submission Criteria

  • The solution should be easily scalable and easily deployable throughout the country 
  • The solution should improve upon existing solutions available
  • The solution should be cost-effective and must not cost anything to users
  • The solution should give utmost importance to patient privacy

Important Dates

  • Submission Open Till: 10th June 2021

Award Money

  • The winner from each category will be awarded INR 50,000
  • Winners will also get an opportunity to become part of the TGI Health Innovation Fellowship where they will be mentored by industry leaders and leading researchers to turn their solution into a scalable business opportunity 

Apply Now

telemedicine covid

Telemedicine supported strengthening of primary care in WHO South East Asia region: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic experiences

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragmentation of the healthcare delivery systems and highlighted the role of resilient primary healthcare systems for a robust public health response during health emergencies. 

Primary care while being the first point of contact between the citizens and the health systems has received scant attention or targeted investments over the past several decades. 

As the pandemic progressed, several countries in the region introduced or expanded access to telemedicine services to maintain essential medical care as face-to-face visits were deemed unsafe thus making telemedicine critical for care delivery. George Institute India team led a narrative review to outline the potential role of telehealth in augmenting health systems capacity in the WHO South East Asia region.

Role of telemedicine in re-aligning the primary healthcare

Our review highlights that governments, policy makers and implementation agencies have been facing a number of challenges prior to the pandemic, a predominant one being lack of policy support to foster implementation of digital health interventions. Lack of robust primary care systems and non-existing referral pathways result in overburdening of health systems capacity at secondary and tertiary care centres.

While comprehensive evaluation of telemedicine in the SEA region has not been systematically undertaken, the recent experience from use of telemedicine during the pandemic and emerging evidence suggest that telemedicine could hold promise in supporting strong and resilient primary care systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the opportunities that these technologies offer to bridge existing gaps in health services delivery. However, the hope that telemedicine will solve the persistent structural problems, specifically in primary care are likely to be short-lived beyond the pandemic. 

We call for strategic investments into primary healthcare and supportive policy environment to leverage telehealth as a tool to support health systems in WHO South East Asia Region towards achieving universal health coverage.

Download the research paper

Telemedicine supported strengthening of primary care in WHO South East Asia region: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic experiences

Read Full Paper published in BMJ Innovations here

 

Leads

Further reading

Subscribe to