Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Int J Drug Policy. 2022 Oct;108:103815. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103815. Epub 2022 Aug 8.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the uptake of virtual and remote service delivery in the substance use field, which was previously uncommon. This swift uptake of virtual services provides an opportunity to improve service design to meet the diverse needs of women and gender-diverse people. Such services have the potential to better meet the needs of women and gender-diverse people by allowing for increased choice, control, and autonomy, enabling empowerment, facilitating greater considerations of power relations, violence, childcare responsibilities, and fostering greater inclusion of trans and non-binary people. This commentary aims to identify how virtual and remote delivery of substance use treatment and harm reduction services can be gender-responsive. We highlight the role gender transformative services play in meeting the unique needs of women and gender-diverse people who use drugs both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. By using the unique window of opportunity COVID-19 has created to develop and deliver gender-transformative programs, we can help address the detrimental gaps in service accessibility and effectiveness that have persistently been experienced by women and gender-diverse people who use drugs.
新冠疫情大流行增加了药物使用领域虚拟和远程服务的采用，而此前这种服务并不常见。这种虚拟服务的迅速采用提供了一个机会，可以改进服务设计，以满足女性和性别多样化人群的多样化需求。这种服务有可能通过增加选择、控制和自主权来更好地满足女性和性别多样化人群的需求，从而增强赋权，更便于考虑权力关系、暴力、儿童保育责任，并促进更多跨性别者和非二进制人群的包容。本评论旨在确定如何使药物使用治疗和减少伤害服务的虚拟和远程交付具有性别响应能力。我们强调了性别转换服务在满足在新冠疫情期间和之后使用毒品的女性和性别多样化人群的独特需求方面所发挥的作用。通过利用新冠疫情创造的独特机会来开发和提供性别转换项目，我们可以帮助解决女性和性别多样化人群在服务可及性和有效性方面持续存在的不利差距。
