Gender analysis tool for ITN distribution: Section One – Gender within the operational context

Country Summary

CONSIDERATIONS FOR PREGNANT WOMEN

Pregnant women (PW) and children under five are more vulnerable to malaria. Their needs, and ensuring they have access to ITNs should be considered as a priority when developing the ITN distribution strategy.

Routine distribution through ANC and EPI can help ensure that PW and children under five are receiving ITNs and other critical health interventions (intermittent preventive treatment [IPTp], seasonal malaria chemoprevention [SMC] etc.) but it is important that this target group:

• Is sleeping under these ITNs every night of the year when the ITN is taken to the household
• Have safe access to these routine distribution channels when they need them

A lot of these indicators can be found on national health surveys such as DHS. A lot of the information has also been aggregated and can be found on the UNICEF website.

CONSIDERATIONS

Women’s access (or lack thereof) to professional healthcare is a good indication of their vulnerability to diseases such as malaria. Access to professional healthcare can ensure good health for both women and their children and ensure that they are able to contribute to the development of their communities and reduce household medical expenditure.

PW are more vulnerable to malaria and part of antenatal care is to ensure that they are protected through intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp). Many countries also use ANC visits as a routine ITN distribution channel, targeting PW specifically.

Where women have poor access to professional healthcare services (whether through physical or socio-economic access), it is even more important to ensure that they have access to malaria prevention measures such as ITNs in the short term. Longer term programmes need to include activities that can support sustainable access to services and commodities.

The following indicators from UNDP’s Women’s Empowerment dashboard can help identify gender development in your country as compared to others. Three-colour coding is used to visualize partial grouping of countries by indicator. For each indicator countries are divided into three groups of approximately equal size (terciles): the top third, the middle third and the bottom third. Please refer to the dashboard: https://hdr.undp.org/womens-empowerment.

GREEN: Women in your country are likely to have high access to healthcare and sexual health services. For pregnant women, this may indicate that they are receiving all doses of IPTps and if your country has a functioning routine distribution system, access to ITNs. This may indicate that pregnant women are well protected against malaria.

YELLOW: Women in your country may not have high access to healthcare and sexual health services. Depending on the actual % of pregnant women attending all four antenatal visits, this may mean that pregnant women may not be effectively protected against malaria during their pregnancy. Your ITN mass distribution might benefit from a strategy that specifically targets pregnant women, example: providing one extra ITN for all households with a pregnant women and/or robust SBC on the dangers of malaria during pregnancy.

ORANGE: It seems that women in your country may not have good access to healthcare and sexual health services. It is critical that one of the objectives of your ITN campaign is to target pregnant women, example: providing one extra ITN for all households with a pregnant woman and/or robust SBC on the dangers of malaria during pregnancy. It is critical that your SBC messages reach not only pregnant women, but also husbands, mother in laws, and head of households.

GREEN: Women in your country are likely to have high access to healthcare and sexual health services. For pregnant women, this may indicate that they are receiving all doses of IPTps and if your country has a functioning routine distribution system, access to ITNs. This may indicate that pregnant women are well protected against malaria.

YELLOW: Women in your country may not have high access to healthcare and sexual health services. Depending on the actual % of pregnant women attending all four antenatal visits, this may mean that pregnant women may not be effectively protected against malaria during their pregnancy. Your ITN mass distribution might benefit from a strategy that specifically targets pregnant women, example: providing one extra ITN for all households with a pregnant women and/or robust SBC on the dangers of malaria during pregnancy.

ORANGE: It seems that women in your country may not have good access to healthcare and sexual health services. It is critical that one of the objectives of your ITN campaign is to target pregnant women, example: providing one extra ITN for all households with a pregnant woman and/or robust SBC on the dangers of malaria during pregnancy. It is critical that your SBC messages reach not only pregnant women, but also husbands, mother in laws, and head of households.

GREEN: Women in your country are likely to have high access to healthcare and sexual health services. For pregnant women, this may indicate that they are receiving all doses of IPTps and if your country has a functioning routine distribution system, access to ITNs. This may indicate that pregnant women are well protected against malaria.

YELLOW: Women in your country may not have high access to healthcare and sexual health services. Depending on the actual % of pregnant women attending all four antenatal visits, this may mean that pregnant women may not be effectively protected against malaria during their pregnancy. Your ITN mass distribution might benefit from a strategy that specifically targets pregnant women, example: providing one extra ITN for all households with a pregnant women and/or robust SBC on the dangers of malaria during pregnancy.

ORANGE: It seems that women in your country may not have good access to healthcare and sexual health services. It is critical that one of the objectives of your ITN campaign is to target pregnant women, example: providing one extra ITN for all households with a pregnant woman and/or robust SBC on the dangers of malaria during pregnancy. It is critical that your SBC messages reach not only pregnant women, but also husbands, mother in laws, and head of households.