Why addressing inequality must be central to pandemic preparedness

Varkey, Sherin; Kandpal, Eeshani

doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2022-010453

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…17 Data show that during the first 2 years of the pandemic, greater excess deaths occurred in countries with greater income inequality, and to a lesser extent, inequality in access to healthcare. 18 Preliminary analysis of data from January 2020 to February 2023 is consistent with these Box 1 Defining social determinants of health (SDH)…”

Section: Reductions In Human Capitalmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…The biological interaction of COVID-19 with existing epidemics, like chronic diseases, concentrated in marginalised populations exacerbated the severity of each 17. Data show that during the first 2 years of the pandemic, greater excess deaths occurred in countries with greater income inequality, and to a lesser extent, inequality in access to healthcare 18. Preliminary analysis of data from January 2020 to February 2023 is consistent with these trends—and suggests that excess deaths were higher in countries with lower per capita GDP, higher poverty rates and greater income inequality 19…”

Section: How Covid-19 Has Increased the Costs Of Inaction On Health E...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The cost of inaction on health equity and its social determinants

Yerramilli,

Chopra,

Rasanathan

2024

BMJ Glob Health

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Rising levels of inflation, debt and macrofiscal tightening are putting expenditures on the social sectors including health under immense scrutiny. Already, there are worrying signs of reductions in social sector investments. However, even before the pandemic, evidence showed the significant returns on investments in health equity and its social determinants. Emerging data and trends show that these potential returns have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic - investments in social determinants can mitigate widespread reductions in human capital and the increasing likelihood of costly syndemics, while promoting access to healthcare innovations that have thus far been inequitably distributed. Therefore, we argue that, despite immediate fiscal pressures, this is exactly the time to invest in health equity and its broader social determinants, as the returns on such investments have never been greater.

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Section: Reductions In Human Capitalmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: How Covid-19 Has Increased the Costs Of Inaction On Health E...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The cost of inaction on health equity and its social determinants

Yerramilli,

Chopra,

Rasanathan

2024

BMJ Glob Health

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“…Income inequality is strongly associated with excess deaths, even more so than health inequality (Varkey, Kandpal and Neelsen 2022). The most unequal countries have typically had very high mortality rates (Brazil, Lebanon, Russia, South Africa, the US).…”

Section: Spotlight On Poverty Inequalities and Excess Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronic Poverty Report 5 - Pandemic Poverty

Shepherd¹,

Diwakar²

2023

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The Chronic Poverty Report 2023: Pandemic Poverty sets out to investigate the highly negative effects of the Covid-19 restrictions, and most importantly, the success or otherwise of the measures pursued to mitigate those effects on people in and near poverty. The leading message is that if restrictions were necessary, they should be minimised, and complemented by measures to mitigate their negative effects. During the pandemic, such measures were in most countries completely inadequate to prevent impoverishment and downward socio-economic mobility. The report makes suggestions on what needs to be done in a similar future crisis to avoid the economic and social reversals we have seen since 2020, and some steps on the road to recovery.

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“…Drefahl et al 2020;Williamson et al 2020). However, our understanding is limited regarding the specific risks by potentially vulnerable subpopulations at the intersections of these factors (Varkey, Kandpal, and Neelsen 2022). This becomes particularly important considering the reversal in direction of the association of at least one of these characteristics before and during the pandemic, i.e., that of migrant status.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lives saved, lives lost, and under-reported COVID-19 deaths: Excess and non-excess mortality in relation to cause-specific mortality during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden

Mussino,

Drefahl,

Wallace

et al. 2024

DemRes

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BACKGROUNDThe number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths differed across countries and across waves of the pandemic. Patterns also differed between groups within a country. OBJECTIVEWe combine data on excess mortality with data on cause-of-death-specific mortality in the case of Sweden to identify which groups had excess mortality beyond what can be captured by analyses of COVID-19-specific deaths. We also explore the possibility that some groups may have benefited in terms of reduced all-cause mortality, potentially due to home-centered living conditions during the pandemic. METHODSWe produced and compared three sets of group-specific incidence rates: deaths from (1) any cause in 2020, (2) any cause in 2019, (3) any cause excluding COVID-19 in 2020. We compared rates across different socioeconomic profiles based on combinations of sex, age, marital status, education, and country of birth. CONTRIBUTIONWe show that many of those who died during 2020 would not have done so in the absence of the pandemic. We find some evidence of COVID-19 mortality underestimation, mainly among individuals with a migration background. We also found groups for which mortality decreased during the pandemic, even when including COVID-19 mortality. Progression across the first and second waves of the pandemic shows that more groups

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Why addressing inequality must be central to pandemic preparedness

Cited by 6 publications

References 10 publications

The cost of inaction on health equity and its social determinants

The cost of inaction on health equity and its social determinants

Chronic Poverty Report 5 - Pandemic Poverty

Lives saved, lives lost, and under-reported COVID-19 deaths: Excess and non-excess mortality in relation to cause-specific mortality during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden

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