Violence against women and girls may increase during infectious disease outbreaks — as economic strain, isolation and disrupted services reshape daily life — yet those impacts remain largely unmeasured, according to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis School of Public Health.
A new study, “A Systematic Review of Infectious Disease Outbreaks and Violence Against Women and Girls: Changes in Magnitude, Mechanisms and Lessons for the Future,” was published May 5 in BMJ Global Health. The study finds that while outbreaks are known to increase risk factors for violence, there is no quantitative evidence on the scale of increased violence against women and girls during outbreaks other than COVID-19.
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports from around the world suggested that violence against women and girls was rising during lockdowns — a pattern widely described as a “shadow pandemic,” prompting researchers to take a closer look.