COVID-19 illustrated what governments can do to mobilise against a global threat. Despite the strong governmental response to COVID-19 in Canada, another ‘pandemic’, gender-based violence (GBV), has been causing grave harm with generally insufficient policy responses. Using interpretive description methodology, 26 interviews were conducted with shelter staff and 5 focus groups with 24 executive directors (EDs) from GBV service organizations in Ontario, Canada. Five main themes were identified and explored, namely that: (1) there are in fact four pandemics at play; (2) the interplay of pandemics amplified existing systemic weaknesses; (3) the key role of informal partnerships and community support, (4) temporary changes in patterns of funding allocation; and (5) exhaustion as a consequence of addressing multiple and concurrent pandemics. Implications and recommendations for researchers, policy makers, and the GBV sector are discussed.

COVID-19 说明了政府可以采取哪些措施来动员起来应对全球威胁。尽管加拿大政府对 COVID-19 做出了强有力的反应，但另一种“大流行”，即基于性别的暴力 (GBV)，在政策反应普遍不足的情况下一直造成严重伤害。使用解释性描述方法，对来自加拿大安大略省 GBV 服务组织的 24 名执行董事 (ED) 的庇护所工作人员和 5 个焦点小组进行了访谈。确定并探讨了五个主要主题，即：（1）实际上有四种流行病在起作用；(2) 流行病的相互作用放大了现有的系统性弱点；(3) 非正式伙伴关系和社区支持的关键作用， (4) 资金分配模式的临时变化；(5) 因应对多种并发流行病而导致的疲惫。