04 A report by Akina Mama Wa Afrika revealed that within Uganda, there is a large disparity in women’s and men’s contribution to household labor. Gender-based disparities influence the unequal gendered distribution of labor, with women carrying the burden of housework. Before the pandemic, women already spent about 3.5 times more hours than men each week on domestic labor. With school closures and new confinement measures, these care burdens became heavier, further reducing the time women could devote to income earning activities. Furthermore, as women lost their incomes, many became vulnerable to domestic violence. Prior to the pandemic, at least 46% of women experienced physical violence and reported living in fear of their current or most recent partners . Domestic violence increased during the lockdown and beyond as women were trapped in their homes with abusive partners and were unable to access support networks or even access essential legal protection, and health services. According to reports by the Ugandan Police a wide range of sexual violence, including marital rape, sexual harassment, and abuse, defilement, denial of the right to use contraception, forced abortions, forced sex work, among others increased during lockdowns. 10 Impact on the health sector The second wave of the COVID pandemic was far more severe as many lives were lost within a very short time. Health facilities were placed under pressure as the growing number of COVID – 19 patients needed hospitalization and oxygen supplies. The President of Uganda, addressing the nation in June 2021, noted the dire situation with scientists projecting a nine-fold increase in the overall national oxygen requirement from 3000 cylinders per day to over 25,800; and a doubling of the number of people needing care, outstripping the country’s current bed capacity of 3,793 hospital beds in less than a month. Limited protective equipment within hospitals coupled with government’s inability to secure adequate vaccines for health workers placed the lives of health workers at risk, and resulted in the pandemic claiming the lives of many health workers. During ‘normal’ circumstances, access to health services for most women and other vulnerable groups was already limited, and during the pandemic these barriers worsened. The cost of medical care shot up within the country, and was worsened within those districts with only a limited number of public health facilities. The weak public health system Research on the Influence of International Financial Institutions on Uganda’s COVID – 19 Recovery Agenda