COVID-19: Unmasking disparities and inequities in health
- Author:
Sherwynn Lloyd Javison
1
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords: Social determinants; Health disparities
- MeSH: COVID-19; Public Health; Health Inequities; Pandemics
- From: Philippine Journal of Nursing 2020;90(3):39-44
- CountryPhilippines
- Language:English
- Abstract: Health care should be borderless, and people must have liberty and timely access to health services regardless of color and status. Different cultures appear to interconnect the world but threaten conflict because of how public health policies are implemented. Considering the social determinants of health in public health policy is essential to halt the following disparities and inequities in this pandemic: (a) compromised right to education has been linked to poverty and without a regular income, disease conditions aggravate, even worse; (b) due to labor market segregation, people in color were losing jobs at a high rate than whites- these minorities have least to cope on health and economic fall-out of the pandemic; (c) racial residential segregation has forced minorities to live in unconducive substandard multifamily units; (d) due to food insufficiency related to joblessness, over 21,000 homeless people may need to be hospitalized; (e) Because of the wrong perceptions of the disease, the whites intently discriminate against the East Asian ethnicity for fear of contracting COVID-19; (f) social media has influenced the development and spread of health-related 'conspiracy' and people became resistant to public health policies; (g) telehealth is advantageous in population with excellent internet service but not for the homeless and those living in depressed areas; (h) urbanization has led to climate change, biodiversity loss, which arises in zoonotic transmission/diseases; (i) pollution was associated with a 15% increase in the COVID-19 death rate in California; and, (j) populations living in coldest areas are at risk of contracting COVID-19 virus. This study unveils racial inequities and disparities in COVID-19.
- Full text:COVID-19.pdf
