COVID-19: Exposing and addressing health disparities among ethnic minorities and migrants.

Journal of travel medicine. 2020;27(7)

Plain language summary

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has swept across the world affecting all countries. As COVID-19 has spread within countries, vulnerable and marginalized populations, and those with low income and low socioeconomic status have been unduly affected. Every country has vulnerable populations that require special attention from policy makers in their response to the current pandemic. In fact, current literature shows that migrants living in refugee camps, detention centres and reception centres are at particularly high risk for COVID-19 exposure. Therefore, they should be included in national surveillance and be entitled to health care. In addition, it is essential to foster trust between public health practitioners and the leadership of these communities so that they may work together to effectively deliver prevention and intervention strategies. Authors conclude that COVID-19 pandemic has exposed health disparities among ethnic minorities and certain migrant groups. Thus, they highlight the importance of prompting greater health equity for diverse ethnocultural communities.

Lifestyle medicine

Fundamental Clinical Imbalances : Immune and inflammation
Patient Centred Factors : Mediators/COVID-19
Environmental Inputs : Psychosocial influences
Personal Lifestyle Factors : Relationships and network ; Environment
Functional Laboratory Testing : Not applicable

Methodological quality

Jadad score : Not applicable
Allocation concealment : Not applicable
Publication Type : Journal Article ; Review

Metadata

Nutrition Evidence keywords : Diabetes ; Cardiovascular disease ; Hypertension