‘Women unable to access basic health services during the pandemic’

Click to read the article in Turkish

Assoc. Prof. Aslı Davas, a member of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) Pandemic Working Group, has said that gender inequality has been aggravated during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Davas has noted that there are serious disruptions in healthcare services in the fields of sexual and reproductive health, maternal and infant health, monitoring of chronic diseases, cancer scans and violence.

Attending the TTB's 18th "What we are curious about during the pandemic" program, Assoc. Prof. Davas has shared information about the ways in which the pandemic has affected women's health.

She has stressed that the pandemic, coupled with the Transformation in Health Program and the escalating conservative policies of the government, has had a negative impact on women's life: "They have been unable to access the most basic healthcare services in this process."

'Violence has increased during isolation'

Davas has noted that there has been a marked increase in violence against women during the isolation. According to Davas, women applied to medical institutions due to their injuries caused by violence, however, there were disruptions in healthcare services offered by them:

"The enforcement of laws and the İstanbul Convention might have had an important role in overcoming the problems faced by women."

Anxiety, depression, PTSD...

Davas has stressed that the poor management of the pandemic has also increased the social burden of women:

"We can say that the incidence of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has increased among women due to several reasons such as their increasing caregiver burden."

Underlining that the pandemic broke out amid an economic crisis, Davas has stressed that women's living conditions have become more difficult and lockdowns have increased social inequality. She has also said that the dismissals in services and caregiving sectors, where women are mostly working, and losses of rights have also increased. (KÖ/SD)