Giving Compass' Take:

• Neil Schoenherr explains that COVID-19 highlights the underlying problems of inequality within the healthcare system. 

• How can you best address health equity in your community in the short- and long-term? 

• Learn about health equity philanthropy. 

We must consider this coronavirus crisis as a wake-up call to prioritize equity and challenge ourselves to consider how to better serve historically underserved communities, a public health expert argues.

“In the middle of a pandemic, it is easy to overlook health equity,” says Darrell Hudson, associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis

Health equity, Hudson says, means that everyone—regardless of their identity, including race/ethnicity, gender, and social class—has the opportunity to reach their optimal level of health.

“Health does not simply mean that people are not sick or have a disease. Health is comprehensive and encompasses so much,” Hudson says. “In fact, many patients seeking care do not actually care much about health. How can they when their bandwidths are exhausted? Most people are consumed with day-to-day functioning.

“They care about their jobs, providing for their families, paying bills, and other social and economic concerns. This is even more problematic right now for families that are struggling with sudden, drastic changes in employment and financial strain.”

What effect will the pandemic have on such families?

“There is often a misalignment between the messages that public health and medical professionals seek to deliver to the public, especially people who have been historically marginalized and who are most vulnerable,” Hudson says.

“Presently, the public health message being disseminated across the country is to observe social distancing guidelines—to stay home and avoid contact with large groups of people. How does this messaging affect citizens who do not have adequate resources to purchase additional food and supplies, especially if they have growing children at home for three meals a day?

“Simultaneously, these families may have jobs in industries that are not shuttered or operating at barebones capacity to observe the social distancing guidelines. How will these families get the resources they need if they cannot work?”

Read the full article about health inequities by Neil Schoenherr at Futurity.