Health Inequity in the Time of a Pandemic

While much of the residual implications of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unknown, incalculable, and therefore difficult to manage, one thing has come clearly into focus: health inequity. Reports have shown that populations or individuals who were considered vulnerable or part of a marginalized group have experienced disproportionately higher infection rates of COVID-19 and worse health outcomes.

In addition to higher overall infection rates, there is a current imbalance in the distribution of and access to resources in response to the pandemic, causing the already frayed threads of the precarious safety net to break.

The current public health crisis has exacerbated and amplified health inequity, or the systematic differences, regarding the access individuals, have to achieve optimal health, leading to unfair and avoidable differences in health outcomes.