The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities

Abstract

This essay examines the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for health inequalities. It outlines historical and contemporary evidence of inequalities in pandemics—drawing on international research into the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918, the H1N1 outbreak of 2009 and the emerging international estimates of socio-economic, ethnic and geographical inequalities in COVID-19 infection and mortality rates. It then examines how these inequalities in COVID-19 are related to existing inequalities in chronic diseases and the social determinants of health, arguing that we are experiencing a syndemic pandemic . It then explores the potential consequences for health inequalities of the lockdown measures implemented internationally as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the likely unequal impacts of the economic crisis. The essay concludes by reflecting on the longer-term public health policy responses needed to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic does not increase health inequalities for future generations.

Keywords

PandemicInequalityCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Public healthHealth equityDevelopment economicsEconomic growthSocial inequalityEthnic groupSocial distancePolitical scienceSociologyGeographyHealth careEconomicsMedicineLawDiseaseInfectious disease (medical specialty)

MeSH Terms

BetacoronavirusCOVID-19Coronavirus InfectionsHealth Status DisparitiesHealthcare DisparitiesHumansPandemicsPneumoniaViralSARS-CoV-2Social Determinants of HealthSocioeconomic Factors

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Publication Info

Year: 2020
Type: article
Volume: 74
Issue: 11
Pages: 964-968
Citations: 1917
Access: Closed

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APA Style

                            
                                
                                    Clare Bambra, 
                                
                                    Ryan Riordan, 
                                
                                    John Ford
                                
                                et al.
                            
                            (2020). 
                            The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities. 
                            Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health
                            , 74
                            (11)
                            , 964-968.
                            https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2020-214401
                        

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1136/jech-2020-214401
PMID: 32535550
PMCID: PMC7298201

Data Quality

Data completeness: 90%