The Health Gap at the Time of COVID-19

In the last years, as inequality has risen, health disparities have also widened. Indeed, social and economic conditions lead to health inequities and the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age represent social determinants of health. Inequities in power, money and resources are reflected in health inequalities.

During crisis like the COVID-19 one, our polarized economies and labour markets are revealing how these pre-existing social vulnerabilities can only get worse, deepening the gap between the haves and have-nots. Previous studies have shown how health crises, hitting entire segments of society, can set off cycles where poor economic status lead to higher levels of chronic diseases, further depressing productivity and raising health care costs, which in turn lead to more poverty and consequently to a rise in the severity of sicknesses. As lower ends of society are likelier to have a chronic health conditions, this implies that they are at higher risk of dying from coronavirus. Thus, socio- economic determinants of health conditions will not only make lower economic strata likelier to catch the disease, but also decrease their life expectancy, as chronical diseases represent important risk factors in mortality deriving from COVID-19. Moreover, there are some of the most vulnerable member of our society that cannot afford the consequences of lockdowns. There are workers that do not have sick paid leave and families reliant on hourly work might soon or even already be running out of money, and consequently being forced to look for jobs even if this means higher risks to get infected. Meanwhile, other members of our communities do not even have a place to stay on self-isolation. Moreover, the fact that volunteers must stay home, can worsen even more the survival expectancy of homeless people.

At the same time, inequality itself can act as a multiplier on the coronavirus' spread and deadliness, since poverty and inequality can increase the rates of transmission and mortality. Labour inequality and poor workplace protections may exacerbate the spread of the virus and, as studies show, communities tend to cluster by economic status. Consequently, the people at the greatest risk of infection are all in proximity, aggravating the possibility to multiply and spread the virus.

The Finance, Law and Economics working group would like to invite you to discuss about these pressing issues with Professor Michael Marmot, the author of the The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (2015) and of the Marmot Review on health inequalities in the UK (2010, 2020).

Join us online on Tuesady, 31st March 2020 at 4 pm GMT

Speaker Bio:
Sir Michael Marmot is Professor of Epidemiology at University College London, and past President of the World Medical Association. He is the author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (2015) and Status Syndrome: how your place on the social gradient directly affects your health (2004). Professor Marmot held the Harvard Lown Professorship for 2014-2017 and is the recipient of the Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health 2015. He has led research groups on health inequalities for over 40 years. Professor Marmot chairs the Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas, set up in 2015 by the World Health Organizations’ Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO/ WHO). He was Chair of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), which was set up by the World Health Organization in 2005, and produced the report entitled: ‘Closing the Gap in a Generation’ in August 2008.