Gendered Health Inequalities of Displaced Women and Girls in Latin America

Panel Abstract
This panel is based on original research developed in the context of the ESRC-funded project ‘Redressing Gendered Health Inequalities of Displaced Women and Girls in contexts of Protracted Crisis in Central and South America (ReGHID)’. Migration is a central issue of the Sustainable Development Goals and asocial determinant of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). In the last decade, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have seen the number of asylum-seekers and refugees travelling northwards grow rapidly, to a total of 396,000 – an increase of 58% from 2016. In Venezuela, nearly 6 million left their country for Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador and the Caribbean since 2014. Women represent around 30% of the total of Central American migrants to Mexico, and 50% of those from Venezuela to Brazil and Colombia. Women and girls are especially vulnerable to risks exacerbated by situations of displacement, such as sexual assault, diseases, lack of contraception, absence of sanitary kits and limited health services. At the same time, health systems in host communities also need support and training in order to understand and provide services that adequately address the gendered effects of migration on sexual and reproductive health and rights of migrant women and girls. The papers in this panel directly address these challenges by providing quantitative and qualitative evidence-based analysis in support of a human rights-based approach to sexual and reproductive health in displacement.