Protection of gender health and fight against gender violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: the experience of our street clinic in a disadvantaged suburb of Rome Metropolitan City

BMC Women's Health

Research

Valeria Florio¹  Elisabetta Gobbi²  Suleika Urbano²  Lucia Ercoli³  Aurelia Rughetti⁴ 

[1] Gynecology Department, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Rome, Italy;Istituto Di Medicina Solidale Onlus, Rome, Italy;Istituto Di Medicina Solidale Onlus, Rome, Italy;Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy;Istituto Di Medicina Solidale Onlus, Rome, Italy;Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy;

关键词: Health inequalities;    Intimate partner violence;    Poverty;    Screening;    Fragile population;    COVID-19;    Women health;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12905-023-02595-7

 received in 2023-02-15, accepted in 2023-08-09,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

ObjectIn this study, we evaluated health, social inequalities and risk to gender violence of women living in a disadvantaged degraded suburb of Rome Metropolitan City, during COVID-19 pandemic.Methods The study included 779 women referring to primary care services of Medicina Solidale Institute for gynecological/breast examinations (209), medical and support aid for the children (383) and COVID-19 test execution (187).Results The data show that most women (68%) were unemployed or had an irregular job. The request of support varied depending on the ethnicity: while healthcare support was requested mostly by African female community, the COVID-19 test, mandatory for public transportation and work, was a need of the east-european community. Both these communities referred to Medical Solidale primary care service for the healthcare and food/clothing support for their children.It is interesting to note that the requests from the Italian women community was elevated in terms of personal healthcare, support for the children and COVID-19 test execution.The access to the national health system (NHS) resulted a complex administrative procedure despite the original social-ethnic communities. The vast majority of women lacked awareness of their crucial role for supporting the family entity, while inadequacy was commonly reported.Conclusions This study confirms a critical condition for women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, whose vulnerability is further worsened by the limited access to primary care assistance with serious consequences for health and quality of life. Prevention and treatment, especially for the most vulnerable subjects, should be a priority for the public health system.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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