PRECAUTIONS AGAINST COVID-19
08/04/2020                      Issue: 18
IKU Distance Education Studies
 

Note: The statistics belong to Monday, April 08 - 16.00.

The new Adobe Connect synchronous classes have been allocated. 32 new virtual classes have been defined: Faculty of Education (2), Institute of postgraduate education (7), Faculty of Science and Letters (2) Faculty of Law (2), Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, (3) vocational school (4) Faculty of Architecture (3) Faculty of Engineering (3) Faculty of Health Sciences (2), Faculty of art and Design (2), Department of foreign languages (2).
 
Some Summaries to be Considered in COVID-19 Pandemic with the Gender Perspective
 

In the fight against the new Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, it should never be overlooked that gender norms and roles differentiate the ways women and girls are affected by the pandemic.

-The most at risk group that struggles in the front line in the COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly the healthcare professionals. As it is known, 70% of Healthcare workers are women, so the risks of infection in the pandemic are very high for them. For this reason, they should be provided with the required quality and sufficient  protective materials such as number of masks, overalls, gloves, etc. And also, it is very important to test healthcare workers periodically.

-Sexual and reproductive health needs of women healthcare professionals should be supplied and the risks of discrimination in the workplace should be eliminated.

-Special support should be provided to women in order to minimize the burden and anxiety regarding the housework, children and elderly care that they handle with in their private lives.

-Stress that increased with the pandemic, and the unemployment that increases the stress increase the risk of domestic violence for women and girls. Moreover, institutions that need to protect women and girls from domestic violence may fail to fulfill their functions. Therefore, the existing application and protection system should be adapted to the pandemic conditions in order to prevent violence against women. Necessary action must be taken to enforce  the Law numbered 6284.

-During the pandemic diseases, most of the people who are dismissed from their work consist of women due to the reasons  of closure of workplaces, disruption of economic activities, etc. In fact, women's labor force participation and employment rates, compared to men, are far behind men, and pandemics will increase this inequality. Dismissals should be forbidden and the loss of income of the dismissed people should be covered by the employer and the government. In this context, we should not forget about widespread female poverty. Especially the elderly and children are the poorest in our country. The risk of fueling all forms of discrimination, especially gender and age, should always be kept in mind and necessary measures should be taken.

-Pregnant women, especially those with additional diseases such as lung diseases, puerperant and lactating women, are among the risky groups in pandemics. It has such an importance to sustain a safe and functioning social and health system for them.

-Sexual and reproductive health and rights are an important public health issue that should be discussed primarily during the epidemic. During the epidemic, the supply chain of sexual and reproductive health services and equipment may be disrupted, and problems may arise in their supply. Women should be informed about how to access these services and where to find the vehicles or where to apply, and their access to them should be facilitated.

-Because of the reasons that schools are closed, children and the all family members are at home, and there is a need for hygiene and food safety, all these are increasing the workloads of women. More importantly, it is generally women who take care of patients and those who suffer from pandemics in the family. This increases the rate of being infected for women. For this reason, the public should alleviate the workload of women in various ways.

-The surveillance and struggle system should include data for gender, age and pregnancy.

-Ensuring the participation of women who have a decisive role in social mobilization in the fight against the epidemic, their involvement in the decision processes is another important issue as mentioned above. For example, academics and / or women's organizations that conduct gender studies in the S

-It is necessary to perform health checks for all refugee women, who are deprived of sheltering conditions that are dignified in human dignity, and who are defenseless against Covid-19 for they do not have clean water, adequate food and hygienic conditions; all registered or unregistered refugee women should benefit from health services unconditionally.

-“Adequate communication and cooperation between sectors and disciplines are key factors in the success of healthcare services. In pandemic situations, this communication and cooperation becomes more important. Therefore, the state, all public institutions and organizations, universities, non-governmental organizations, especially women's organizations and local administrations should definitely take part in this cooperation that will be carried out with a certain coordination; and “gender-sensitive approaches” should be implemented in these collaborations.
What is Done in Other Countries? (Things they do may serve as a model in their practising in Turkey)

-France open nurseries that work in pandemic conditions, and that are close to hospitals for the children of French healthcare workers. And also, they allocate hotels near the hospital for healthcare professionals.

-Pharmacies in Spain is promoting the “mascarilla 19 (mask 19)” campaign to prevent violence against women. Since the woman who has been exposed to violence is in the same house with the one who use the violence , she often cannot call the helpline, so when she goes to the pharmacy and asks for a “mask 19”, the pharmacist calls the hotline directly.

-In parallel with the practice in Spain, the implementation is being started by the French Equality Ministry. When the woman who has been subjected to violence calls a “mask 19” by phone or going to the pharmacy, the pharmacist calls the hotline directly.

-The French Ministry of Internal Affairs allocates a budget of 20 thousand nights for hotel reservations so that women who are exposed to violence can stay in crisis (In Turkey, Family Ministry and/or municipals can also do this, budgets should be allocated to them)

-The French Ministry of Internal Affairs opens application / advice stands for women in supermarkets. The number of these stands has exceeded 200.

-Italian women demand an official order to protect women as soon as possible. (Also in Turkey, the Ministry of Internal Affairs can send a “new circular” to 81 provincial governorships for the full enforcement of Law No. 6284. The Ministry of Justice can undertake a similar initiative; women's representation can be provided in newly established pandemic boards in the provinces.)

-The Australian government is preparing a $ 92 million support package to prevent increased violence and to support victim women due to the COVID-19 crisis.

-The use of the “silent touch” application for immigrant women is encouraged in the UK. When you press this key, help is asked without speaking. In our country, KADES application is a similar application, but its full operation has not been provided yet.

Source: Public Health Experts Association (HASUDER)
Prepared by Nevin Şenol (Women Studies Specialist) - Ayşe Akın (Public Health and Gynecology Obstetrician)
News From IKU
"Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations" E-Seminar
 

The International Trade Department held its first e-seminar (Webinar) on Tuesday, April 7 at 20.00. Dilara Ömeroğlu from Concordia University, who attended the seminar as a speaker, talked about "Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations". Providing information about the goals, Ömeroğlu also answered questions from our students.
News From Turkey and World

Information is taken by HASUDER (Public Health Experts Association) COVID-19 page, supported by Public Health Specialist Assist. Prof. Meltem Akın Dikleli, faculty member of the Faculty of Health Sciences of our university.

Definite cases: Turkey (34.109), World (1,446,557)

Death:             Turkey (725), World (83 thousand 149)

WHO Risk Assessment: Global level - Very High
News from World

World Health Organization (WHO);

- Cases of COVID-19 have been reported in a new country / region / region within the past 24 hours: São Tomé and Príncipe.

- WHO celebrates the incredible contribution of all healthcare professionals, especially nurses and midwives, on 7 April World Health Day. Nurses are the largest component of the healthcare workforce, playing a key role in combating COVID-19 and achieving Universal Health Inclusion and Sustainable Development Goals. WHO published the first report on the status of the nursing workforce in the world. This report reiterates the call for governments to invest in nurses. To read the report…

- WHO announced that Lady Gaga and Global Citizen will give a concert titled “One World: At Home Together” on Saturday, April 18, 2020. In this special event to be published globally, the unity among all the people affected by COVID-19 will be highlighted, brave life-saving health workers will be celebrated and donations will be collected to combat COVID-19. For more information…

- WHO Director-General Tedros reiterated concerns about the inadequacy of medical masks and other PPEs and reminded that masks should be used as part of a comprehensive response package. WHO published a guide on the use of masks in communities, during home care and while providing healthcare. To reach the guide…

- Additional recommendations for the public were published by WHO. For detailed information…

-WHO develops supply networks, logistics in clinical settings and sends equipment and test kits all over the world. To read the news published under the title of “Subject in Focus”…

- There are less than 28 million nurses worldwide. The number of nurses increased by 4.7 million between 2013 and 2018, but there is still a global deficit of 5.9 million. The majority of this deficit is in countries in Africa, South East Asia, WHO Eastern Mediterranean region and some parts of Latin America. WHO and its partners made some recommendations to all countries to equip the world with the nursing workforce they need;

1) Increasing funds to train and employ more nurses,

2) Strengthening the capacity to collect, analyze and act on data related to the health workforce,

3) To monitor nurse mobility, to manage responsibly and ethically,

4) To provide nurses with the scientific, technological and sociological skills they need to advance in primary health care,

5) Establishing leadership positions, including state head nursing, and supporting leadership development among young nurses,

6) Nurses in primary health care teams, prevention and management of noncommunicable diseases etc. to ensure that they work at their full potential in their fields,

7) To improve working conditions, including merit, fair salaries, respect for occupational health and safety,

8) Implementation of gender sensitive nursing workforce policies,

9) To modernize professional nursing arrangements by harmonizing education and practice standards, using systems that can globally recognize and process the identity information of nurses,

10) Strengthening the role of nurses in care teams by bringing together nursing stakeholders and different sectors (health, education, migration, finance and workforce) for policy dialogue and workforce planning.

- During the COVID-19 outbreak, the first two diagnostic tests for emergency use are listed. For detailed information…
Developments in Turkey

T.C. The Ministry Of Health;

Minister Fahrettin Koca made statements at the press conference held after the coronavirus Scientific Committee meeting he attended with video conference;

- The cities with the highest number of cases are Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Kocaeli, Sakarya and Zonguldak,

- Case densities are monitored from neighborhood to neighborhood, street to street, and this facilitates regional quarantine decisions,

- The “Social Sciences Board " consisting of psychologists, sociologists, religious psychologists and statisticians was formed in order to produce ideas that would make life easier by making predictions about the process,

- Male cases outnumber women and cases are concentrated between the ages of 20-65,

- While pre-curfew cases applied to citizens over 65 showed a more balanced distribution, there was a large reduction in the number of cases over 65 after Prohibition,

- Most deaths were between the ages of 65-8.,

- People under 60 and without comorbidity accounted for 10% of total deaths,

- Increased testing capacity, increase in the number of positive cases is due to increase in the number of tests, case / test ratio is decreased,

- Decreased percentage of cases that develop into pneumonia,

- Prof. Dr. Aykut Özdarendeli from Erciyes University and Prof. Dr. Aykut Özkul from Ankara University said that they isolated the virus in the laboratory and that this was a very important step in the process of developing the vaccine.,

- Stem cell and immune plasma treatments as a final solution would not be right to be evaluated,

- The ministry also pioneered vaccine studies,

- The mobility of cases that need to be monitored in isolation at home will be digitally monitored with a mobile phone app,

- He stated that there will be 2 hospitals in Istanbul (Atatürk Airport and Sancaktepe), which have a thousand beds, and all rooms designed to be converted into intensive care, when necessary, patient transfer can also be made abroad if Ataturk Airport is suitable for aircraft ambulances. For more information…

Republic of Turkey Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services:

- Minister Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk stated that new measures should be taken regarding the homeless people who are among the groups that COVID-19 disease can use most.Click here for further information...

- Details of the cash aid to families in need within the scope of the second phase social assistance program to combat the new Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) have been announced. Click here for further information...

Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry:

Minister Bekir Pakdemirli stated that in 2020 there will not be any drinking water shortage across the country, also he stated that Turkey is not a water-rich country. In addition to that, minister stated that it is necessary to consume this resource, which is limited while fulfilling the hygiene requirements due to the COVID-19 epidemic, without wasting it. Click here for further information...

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB):

- TTB has published practical information for cloth mask making and use. Click here for further information...

The Council of Higher Education Kurulu (YÖK):

- YÖK announced that prospective teachers reported to all universities by making a decision to compensate for the shortcomings in the practice studies with the preparation of “lectures, homework and files.” Click here for further information...

The Measuring, Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM):

- ÖSYM announced that the results of “KPSS-2020/5: Placement in Contracted Positions of the Ministry of Health” were announced between 26 March 2020 - 01 April 2020. Click here for further information...

This Journal was prepared by the General Secretariat with the contribution of the Directorate of Information System and Technologies.


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