Thank you for inviting us to speak with you today.
I want to acknowledge that our work at the Women's Health Research Institute is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, which includes the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.
With regard to COVID-19, sex-disaggregated data reveals a higher case fatality rate for males compared to females. Of note, however, there are exceptions in some countries, such as India, where case fatality is higher in females. In a comment published recently in The Lancet Global Health, the authors speculated whether these higher rates in females might be due to factors related to their gender. We already know that pandemics can compound differential exposure and outcome for women, girls, sexual and gender minorities, caregivers, and other essential workers in gendered occupations.
The Women's Health Research Institute designed a two-part study that combined a survey and an examination of antibodies collected by dry blood spot sample. In our remarks today, we will only focus on a snapshot of the mental health outcomes.
I want to acknowledge our full team at the Women's Health Research Institute, colleagues from BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, all of the students and trainees, as well as funding from our BC Women's Health Foundation.