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Gina Alvarado

Landesa Rural Development Institute United States of America

Gina Alvarado is a Sociologist with 20 years of experience leading and designing programs, monitoring and evaluating systems, for international development projects to advance the rights of women and youth. She specialized in the intersection between economic rights and public health outcomes including violence against women. As a senior research and evaluation advisor at Landesa, Gina is proposing solutions to complex problems by leading the design and implementation of research that expands knowledge and innovation directed towards strengthening the land rights of vulnerable people and their access to agricultural land. She is managing multi-national and multi-ethnic teams that conduct data collection for complex evaluations of land rights projects for women and youth. Gina is also the Human Protections Administrator at Landesa heading the monitoring and evaluation of the gender integration strategy, and also the creator of the Gender Equality and Social inclusive (GESI) framework strategy.

1chapters authored

Chapters authored

The Health and Economic Costs of Violence against Women and Girls on Survivors, Their Families, and Communities in Ghana

By Gina Alvarado Merino, Stacey Scriver, Jennifer L. Mueller, Lila O’Brien-Milne, Ama P. Fenny and Nata Duvvury

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a worldwide phenomenon. Globally, 35% of women have experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) or non-partner sexual violence in their lives. VAWG is estimated to cost the global economy about US$ eight trillion. Most studies on violence in Ghana discuss domestic violence or some forms of sexual violence but lack a comprehensive view of VAWG and its costs and impacts on communities, businesses, and the national economy. Our international consortium undertook a mixed-methods study to estimate the economic and non-economic losses caused by VAWG. We surveyed 2002 women and 805 male and female employees and conducted 24 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and 8 focus group discussions (FGDs). The study finds that costs of VAWG are high and multi-fold. It estimates costs to health, social relationships, and productivity for individuals, their families, and communities. Individual well-being and capabilities are impacted through absenteeism or missed care work and mental health issues. VAWG deepens household poverty by out-of-pocket expenditures that arise to address medical and legal issues that result from violence. Additionally, VAWG affects the vibrancy of communities as women’s participation and leadership decline. These costs accumulate to have profound effects on the Ghanaian economy and society.

Part of the book: Public Health in Developing Countries

Related collaborators

Sura Dakhil Jassim

University of Babylon , Iraq

Nata Duvvury

National University of Ireland, Galway , Ireland

Stacey Scriver

National University of Ireland, Galway , Ireland

Kenneth Juma

African Population and Health Research Center , Kenya

Jennifer Mueller

Lila O'Brien-Milne

Ama Fenny

Gershim Asiki

African Population and Health Research Center , Kenya

Pamela Juma

London School of Economics and Political Science , United Kingdom

Peter Otieno

African Population and Health Research Center , Kenya