{"doi":"10.1177/00031348221101522","title":"Perceptions of Gender Disparities in Access to Surgical Care in Malawi: A Community Based Survey","abstract":"BACKGROUND: Gender disparities in surgical care exist but have been minimally studied, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study explored perceptions and gender differences in health-seeking behavior and attitudes toward surgical care in Malawi among community members. METHODS: A survey tool was administered to adults ≥18 years old at a central hospital, district hospital, and two marketplaces in Malawi from June 2018 to December 2018. Responses from men and women were compared using chi-squared tests. RESULTS: Four hundred eighty-five adults participated in the survey, 244 (50.3%) men and 241 (49.7%) women. Women were more likely to state that fear of surgery might prevent them from seeking surgical care (29.1% of men, 43.6% of women, P = .0009). Both genders reported long wait times, medicine/physician shortages, and lack of information about when surgery is needed as potential barriers to seeking surgical care. More men stated that medical preference should be given to sons (17.1% of men, 9.3% of women, P = .01). Men were more likely to report that men should have the final word about household decisions (28.7% of men vs 19.5% of women, P < .0001) and were more likely to spend money independently (68.7% of married men, 37.5% of married women, P < .0001). Few participants reported believing gender equality had been achieved (61% of men and 66.8% of women). CONCLUSIONS: A multi-pronged approach is needed to reduce gender disparities in surgical care in Malawi, including addressing paternalistic societal norms, education, and improving health infrastructure.","journal":"The American Surgeon","year":2022,"id":286308,"datarank":0.26876392038420827,"base_score":1.791759469228055,"endowment":1.791759469228055,"self_citation_contribution":0.26876392038420827,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.26876392038420827,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9443,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":965620,"name":"Jennifer Kincaid","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":338339,"name":"Riju Shrestha","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":399513,"name":"Paula D. Strassle","orcid":"0000-0002-1072-1560","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":772318,"name":"Rebecca Maine","orcid":"0000-0003-4327-8742","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":324101,"name":"Anthony Charles","orcid":"0000-0001-7332-4354","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":372312,"name":"Jared Gallaher","orcid":"0000-0002-3416-8907","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":512581,"name":"Mphatso Manjolo","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":965621,"name":"Jotham Gondwe","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":506348,"name":"Sherry M. Wren","orcid":"0000-0002-5723-8226","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":715586,"name":"Trista Reid","orcid":"0000-0002-6619-2880","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":10,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:29:48.841035Z","pmid":"35592895","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}