Title: 5.2 Scenario
Course: Introduction to gender-based analysis plus GBA+ > Section: Module 5

Exercise

You will be ask to prepare a draft briefing note on heart disease and include GBA+ in your considerations

Context Information:

  - The Government has announced that your department will receive new funding to combat heart disease.
  - Your manager asks you to prepare a briefing note on this issue and include GBA+ in your considerations.
  - Prepare a draft briefing note on heart disease and include GBA+ in your considerations.

Question 1

After receiving instructions, you think:

- Who do I know in our departmental GBA+ unit?
Feedback: You consult your departmental GBA+ unit It is an excellent idea to contact your departmental GBA+ unit, Gender Focal Point, and other external experts to ask for tools and additional resources for considering GBA+. Remember to visit the GBA+ GCpedia web page for tools and resources. While these resources can serve as a guiding framework, as the subject-matter expert in heart disease, you are best positioned to conduct the GBA+. Because GBA+ starts with information gathering, you decide to go to the Statistics Canada website.
- GBA+ is unlikely to be relevant to the issue of heart disease.
Feedback: You assume GBA+ is not applicable to heart disease You assume GBA+ is not applicable to the issue of heart disease. There is no way to immediately know whether GBA+ is applicable to an issue. Remember to check your underlying assumptions: often, issues that appear to have no GBA+ dimensions in fact have significant ones.
- Where can I get sex-disaggregated data on heart disease?
Feedback: You decide to look for sex-disaggregated data about heart disease Good idea. The GBA+ method starts with collecting information that can help you define the issue. Statistics Canada can provide a good starting point for sex-disaggregated data.

Question 2

You consult the Statistics Canada website to find sex-disaggregated data on heart disease.

You discover two publications:

- Leading Causes of Death in Canada, 2013
Feedback: You review Leading Causes of Death in Canada Great start. The report shows data for women separately from men. You find that women and men share the leading causes of death, including heart disease. It shows, however, that men are more likely to die from heart disease than women. Women in Canada’s chapter on “Health” shows the same thing.
- Women in Canada, chapter on "Health" (Publication date 2016).
Feedback: You review the Women in Canada’s chapter on “Health” Great place to look. The report shows that heart disease is one of the leading causes of death among women and men. It also shows that men are more likely to die from heart disease than women. The Leading Causes of Death report contains the same information.

Question 3

You now have some sex-disaggregated information about heart disease in Canada

¿What is your next move?

- I'd like to do some more research on this topic. Is there more data and information available?
Feedback: You decide to do more research Good choice. Gathering information involves examining additional factors that intersect with gender, as well as considering the broader social and economic context. You decide to look for more information on gender and other factors. You also look for information that can help you to analyze the data and explain the disaggregated data.
- I want to know what the stakeholders have to say.
Feedback: You decide to consider stakeholder perspectives Great idea. The GBA+ process also involves considering stakeholder perspectives to better define the issue.
- I think I'm ready to start the briefing note.
Feedback: Sorry, you’re not ready Having sex-disaggregated data is the starting point for a deeper analysis. Ask more questions. For example, are there specific groups of women and men that may be more or less affected by heart disease?

More information

You find a few more sources of information, one from Statistics Canada and the other a special issue of an academic journal

 Which do you choose to read?

- Women in Canada, chapter on "First Nations, Métis and Inuit Women," published in 2016, or
Feedback: You review the Women in Canada’s chapter on “First Nations, Métis and Inuit Women” The report shows that 7.6% of Indigenous women have chronic heart problems compared to only 4.7% of Canadian women on the whole. You document the source and findings.
- A special edition of Current Pharmaceutical Design on gender and heart disease, published in 2011.
Feedback: You review a special edition of Current Pharmaceutical Design The report shows that there are sex-based differences in heart disease. For example, women generally have a later onset of heart disease because of the presence of estrogen in their bodies, and their vulnerability increases after menopause. Gender bias may be present in the treatment of heart disease if pharmaceutical treatments are only tested on men and do not account for the differences in women. You document the source and findings.

Stakeholder perspectives

You decide to consider stakeholder perspectives

Great idea. The GBA+ process also involves considering stakeholder perspectives to better define the issue.

Stakeholders often have information on how an issue affects a certain segment of the population. They can be a source of data and also help to explain why the numbers look the way they do.

 What stakeholders do you consult and refer to for your briefing note?

- Public Health Agency of Canada
Feedback: Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) The PHAC journal Chronic Diseases in Canada has a December 2010 special issue on Indigenous peoples’ health, which points out the vulnerability of Indigenous women and men to heart disease. You document the source and findings.
- Canadian Institute for Health Information
Feedback: Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) The CIHI Women’s Health Surveillance Report (2003) says that “women present with a wider range of symptoms, are more likely to delay seeking medical care, and are less likely than men to be investigated and treated for cardio-vascular disease with specific medications, angioplasty or coronary artery bypass graft.” Previously, physicians used the male model of coronary heart disease to diagnose women, meaning that women who did not fit the model did not receive appropriate treatment, increasing their risk of a heart attack. You document the source and findings.
- Civil Society
Feedback: Civil Society: Heart and Stroke Foundation The Heart and Stroke Foundation says the following: - Indigenous Canadians are more vulnerable to heart disease than other Canadians and experience elevated rates of contributing risk factors, such as type 2 diabetes. - Diabetes is a greater risk factor for heart disease in women than in men. You document the source and findings.

Final

Now that you have gathered some information and considered some stakeholders, what’s next?

- I'd like to review what the data had to say
- I'd like to review what stakeholders had to say.
- I think I'm ready to start the briefing note.