Poor people 4 times higher risk of dying from COVID-19
The risk of dying from COVID-19 is “nearly four times higher” for the poorest, a study in England found that inequality “undermined the health of the nation.”
The chances of dying from the coronavirus were nearly four times higher for working-age adults in the poorest parts of England than those in the richest countries, a study of the health effects of the pandemic showed.
According to The Guardian, a nine-month study by the charity Health Foundation found that a decade of worsening health inequalities and declining public services “has undermined the health of the nation” and contributed to a disproportionately high death toll from COVID-19 in the UK compared to peers. countries.
The study authors called for urgent action to reduce health disparities and demanded significant public investment in the national health system, jobs, housing, education, communities and social welfare.
“We may have to learn to live with COVID-19, but we must not tolerate its uneven effects,” says Joe Bibby, director of the Health Foundation. “We cannot afford to repeat the same mistake twice.”
The report echoes many of the findings of last week’s report by public health expert Sir Michael Marmot on health inequalities related to COVID-19 in Greater Manchester, and reflects growing concerns about the scope and direction of the UK government’s long-term recovery plans after the pandemic. …
During the pandemic, more than 150,000 additional deaths were recorded in the UK, writes The Guardian. The investigation says the biggest contributor to COVID-19 in the UK was the timing of the blocking and the severity of the restrictions. “Once the virus spread, the extent to which different populations were affected … reflected differences in underlying medical and socioeconomic factors that increased the risk of infection and worse outcomes.”
The study found that the high rates of COVID deaths in the poorest areas were in part due to serious pre-existing health problems. People between the ages of 50 and 69 in the 10% most deprived areas are more than twice as likely to develop long-term diseases that put them at higher risk (such as diabetes and chronic lung disease).
Work and activities, including caring for people, manufacturing and leisure activities, also increase exposure to the risk of contracting the virus, as does poor living conditions. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, overcrowding in private and social rental housing in England was at its highest on record.
Death rates from COVID-19 were highest, not only in disadvantaged areas, but also for certain groups such as residents of nursing homes, people with disabilities and ethnic minority communities. Young people suffered disproportionately high levels of mental health problems.
Adequate income, quality jobs and housing are essential ingredients for good health, the investigation says: “The decline in healthy life expectancy partly reflects the deterioration in social conditions in the UK in the decade leading up to the pandemic, which has more affected certain groups.”
The widening inequalities in health over the past decade “have exposed the UK to a large death toll and reduced people’s ability to cope with the ensuing economic shock,” the study argues.
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