The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the preexisting epidemic of gender-based violence. In turn, gender-based violence can directly and indirectly contribute to COVID-19 vulnerability and community transmission.
gender-insensitive COVID-19 policy responses have reinforced this negatively synergistic relationship, reducing the effectiveness of disease control measures and contributing to gender inequality in fragile settings, which are already characterized by conflict, poverty, displacement, and weak infrastructure.