Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Advance Access
    • Archive
    • Supplements
      • Provider Behavior Change for Improved Health Outcomes
      • The Challenge Initiative Platform
      • Call for Abstracts
      • The Responsive Feedback Approach
    • Topic Collections
  • For Authors
    • Instructions for Authors
    • Submit Manuscript
    • Publish a Supplement
    • Promote Your Article
    • Resources for Writing Journal Articles
  • About
    • About GHSP
    • Editorial Team
    • Advisory Board
    • FAQs
    • Instructions for Reviewers
  • Webinars
    • Local Voices Webinar
    • Connecting Creators and Users of Knowledge
    • Publishing About Programs in GHSP
  • Other Useful Sites
    • GH eLearning
    • GHJournal Search

User menu

  • My Alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
Global Health: Science and Practice
  • Other Useful Sites
    • GH eLearning
    • GHJournal Search
  • My Alerts

Global Health: Science and Practice

Dedicated to what works in global health programs

Advanced Search

  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Advance Access
    • Archive
    • Supplements
    • Topic Collections
  • For Authors
    • Instructions for Authors
    • Submit Manuscript
    • Publish a Supplement
    • Promote Your Article
    • Resources for Writing Journal Articles
  • About
    • About GHSP
    • Editorial Team
    • Advisory Board
    • FAQs
    • Instructions for Reviewers
  • Webinars
    • Local Voices Webinar
    • Connecting Creators and Users of Knowledge
    • Publishing About Programs in GHSP
  • Alerts
  • Visit GHSP on Facebook
  • Follow GHSP on Twitter
  • RSS
  • Find GHSP on LinkedIn
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Open Access

Zika Travel Policies May Reduce Women's Leadership in Global Health

Emma Richardson
Global Health: Science and Practice December 2016, 4(4):696-697; https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-16-00282
Emma Richardson
a McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: richardsone@smh.ca
PreviousNext
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments
  • PDF
Loading

On February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” based on growing evidence that women who have theZika virus during pregnancy are at increased risk of having their children born with microcephaly.1 On November 20, 2016, while this letter was in press, WHO declared that Zika was no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern because the link between Zika and microcephaly has been found to be robust and in need of a longer-term global strategy.2,3 To stem the spread of Zika, travel-related policies have been issued by federal public health agencies and are still in place, advising in particular pregnant women or women trying to become pregnant not to travel to areas with ongoing Zika virus outbreaks.4 These policies may have the unintended result of decreasing women's input on the planning, implementation, and evaluation of global health projects. This is important to the field as a whole, because gender-balanced teams are crucial for implementing effective global health programs and projects. As a woman global health scholar and practitioner, I reflect on potential negative impacts of these Zika travel policies and recommend actions.

Gender balance is important to effective global health programs.

ZIKA TRAVEL POLICY AND GLOBAL HEALTH

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced, on January 15, 2016, a travel alert for 14 Zika-affected countries in Latin America, the most economically unequal region in the world5 with considerable and persistent global health challenges. This region continues to be a high priority for health donors such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.6 The travel policy recommends special precautions for women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, including considering postponing travel to these destinations.7 The Zika travel policy is unusual in its sex specificity: It recommends that women, and not men, should potentially avoid travel to Latin America. In fact, men can also become infected with Zika, which is sexually transmissible to their partners, but this scenario has not been addressed in the travel policies directly.6

The Zika travel policy is unusual in its sex specificity.

GENDER-SPECIFIC IMPACTS OF THE U.S. ZIKA TRAVEL POLICY

  1. Women's leadership and input in global health programs may be reduced. The status of “trying to become pregnant” is complex and may last for years. Many female global health profession-als of reproductive age, if they heed the advice of the CDC, would avoid work-related travel to Central and South America. This could mean that for the current cohort of global health projects, women's input would be significantly reduced. Lack of gender balance is known to hamper effective implementation of global health initiatives.8

  2. Women may be hesitant to express their concern about Zika. Citing Zika travel policies as a reason to avoid work-related international travel may signal to employers a woman's intention to have children. Many women worry about revealing their plans to have children to their employers. Women are aware that revealing an intention to become pregnant might be detrimental to their career advancement. For example, employers may prefer to hire and promote those they suspect less likely to have children, to avoid having to cover maternity leaves. While the practice is technically illegal in the United States, women are often discriminated against in hiring, such as by being asked in job interviews if they plan to have children.9

Women are aware that revealing an intention to become pregnant might be detrimental to their career advancement.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GLOBAL HEALTH FUNDERS AND IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATIONS

  1. Monitor and report on whether women's participation in global health programs and policies is decreasing. Compare measures of participation before and after Zika travel policies were in place.

  2. Mitigate the impact. Seek more flexible ways to involve women in global health projects. For example, I acted as gender consultant for a maternal health initiative in Guatemala by combining a shorter in-country trip with later teleconferencing for interviews with maternal health project staff based in Northern Guatemala.

  3. Consider increasing the participation of local as opposed to expatriate women. The reality is that most global health projects are funded and managed by international institutions headquartered in the North that employ many expatriates. If instead local professional women were brought to the fore, this could be a silver lining. Involving more local women would improve adaptation of the project to the local context and mitigate the overall loss of women's perspectives resulting from the Zika travel policies.

Involving more local professional women in global health projects could be a silver lining.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL WOMEN WHO WORK IN GLOBAL HEALTH

  1. Know you are not alone. For women of reproductive age who are involved in global health, navigating adherence to Zika travel policies is complex. I hope this letter will stir reflection and push these issues from private dilemmas to public debate.

  2. Suggest to global health employers alternative ways for women to be involved. If your intention to become pregnant means you cannot risk travel to Zika-endemic areas, suggest to your employer alternatives such as teleconferencing or partnering with a local counterpart who is a woman.

Zika travel policies may have the unintended consequence of reducing women's participation in global health programs. Addressing gender equity in global health projects is complex. Recognizing and dealing with gender imbalances in global health leadership is perhaps more subtle, but no less important.

Notes

Competing Interests: None declared.

Cite this article as: Richardson E. Zika travel policies may reduce women’s leadership in global health. Glob Health Sci Pract. 2016;4(4):696–697. http://dx.doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-16-00282

  • Received: 2016 Aug 31.
  • Accepted: 2016 Oct 5.
  • Published: 2016 Dec 23.
  • © Richardson.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly cited. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. When linking to this article, please use the following permanent link: http://dx.doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-16-00282

REFERENCES

  1. 1.↵
    World Health Organization (WHO) [Internet]. Geneva: WHO; c2016. WHO statement on the first meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR 2005) Emergency Committee on Zika virus and observed increase in neurological disorders and neonatal malformations; 2016 Feb 1 [cited 2016 Nov 22]. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2016/1st-emergency-committee-zika/en/
  2. 2.↵
    1. Vaidya A
    WHO: Zika no longer a public health emergency of international concern. Chicago: Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality; 2016 Nov 21. Available from: http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/who-zika-no-longer-a-public-health-emergency-of-international-concern.html
  3. 3.↵
    UN News Centre [Internet]. New York: United Nations (UN); c2016. No longer an international public health emergency, Zika is ‘here to stay’–UN health agency; 2016 Nov 19 [cited 2016 Dec 2]. Available from: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=55608#.WEGmU6IrKb-
  4. 4.↵
    U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): CDC; c2016. Zika virus: women trying to become pregnant; 2016 Oct 3 [cited 2016 Dec 2]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/pregnancy/women-and-their-partners.html
  5. 5.↵
    1. Bárcena Ibarra A,
    2. Byanyima W
    Latin America is the world’s most unequal region. Here’s how to fix it. Geneva: World Economic Forum; 2016 Jan 17. Available from: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/inequality-is-getting-worse-in-latin-america-here-s-how-to-fix-it/
  6. 6.↵
    U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) [Internet]. Washington (DC): USAID; 2016 [cited 2016 Nov 22]. Latin America and the Caribbean: improving security and economic and political inclusion. Available from: https://www.usaid.gov/where-we-work/latin-american-and-caribbean
  7. 7.↵
    U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC issues interim travel guidance related to Zika virus for 14 countries and territories in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Atlanta (GA): CDC; 2016 Jan 15. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/s0315-zika-virus-travel.html
  8. 8.↵
    1. Downs J,
    2. Reif LK,
    3. Hokororo A,
    4. Fitzgerald DW
    Increasing women in leadership in global health. Acad Med. 2014;89(8):1103–1107. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000000369. pmid:24918761
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  9. 9.↵
    FindLaw. Illegal interview questions and female applicants. New York: Thomson Reuters, FindLaw; 2013. Available from: http://files.findlaw.com/pdf/employment/employment.findlaw.com_hiring-process_illegal-interview-questions-and-female-applicants.pdf
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Global Health: Science and Practice: 4 (4)
Global Health: Science and Practice
Vol. 4, No. 4
December 23, 2016
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by Author
  • Complete Issue (PDF)
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about Global Health: Science and Practice.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Zika Travel Policies May Reduce Women's Leadership in Global Health
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Global Health: Science and Practice
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the Global Health: Science and Practice web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Zika Travel Policies May Reduce Women's Leadership in Global Health
Emma Richardson
Global Health: Science and Practice Dec 2016, 4 (4) 696-697; DOI: 10.9745/GHSP-D-16-00282

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Zika Travel Policies May Reduce Women's Leadership in Global Health
Emma Richardson
Global Health: Science and Practice Dec 2016, 4 (4) 696-697; DOI: 10.9745/GHSP-D-16-00282
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Jump to section

  • Article
    • ZIKA TRAVEL POLICY AND GLOBAL HEALTH
    • GENDER-SPECIFIC IMPACTS OF THE U.S. ZIKA TRAVEL POLICY
    • RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GLOBAL HEALTH FUNDERS AND IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATIONS
    • RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL WOMEN WHO WORK IN GLOBAL HEALTH
    • Notes
    • REFERENCES
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Regarding “Down but Not Out: Vasectomy Is Faring Poorly Almost Everywhere—We Can Do Better to Make It a True Method Option”
  • Authors’ Response to Letter on “Down but Not Out: Vasectomy Is Faring Poorly Almost Everywhere—We Can Do Better to Make It a True Method Option”
  • Regarding “Willingness to Pay for HIV Prevention Commodities Among Key Population Groups in Nigeria”
Show more LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Similar Articles

Subjects

  • Health Topics
    • Infectious Diseases
US AIDJohns Hopkins Center for Communication ProgramsUniversity of Alberta

Follow Us On

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS

Articles

  • Current Issue
  • Advance Access Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Topic Collections
  • Most Read Articles
  • Supplements

More Information

  • Submit a Paper
  • Instructions for Authors
  • Instructions for Reviewers
  • GH Journals Database

About

  • About GHSP
  • Advisory Board
  • FAQs
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

© 2023 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. ISSN: 2169-575X

Powered by HighWire