Health inequality experienced by the socially disadvantaged populations during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Hong Kong: An interaction with social inequality
Health inequality experienced by the socially disadvantaged populations during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Hong Kong: An interaction with social inequality
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DOI：
10.1111/hsc.13214
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发表时间：
2020-10-30
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Siu, Judy Yuen-man
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Siu, Judy Yuen-man
健康方面的不平等为传染病的传播创造了条件，而现有的健康方面的不平等可能造成发病率和死亡率方面的不平等负担。在香港，低社会经济阶层地区是2020年7月及8月爆发的第三波COVID-19疫情的中心，表明低社会经济阶层人士是弱势群体。相对而言，社会弱势群体更容易受到传染病的身体、精神和社会影响。为实现更有效的感染控制，应确定健康的社会决定因素和现有的健康不平等，了解社会弱势群体在COVID-19爆发中的经历将有助于卫生当局制定针对社会弱势群体需求的响应性感染控制政策。本文调查了2019冠状病毒病爆发期间经济弱势群体的经历，并通过描述健康不平等如何与社会不平等相结合，探讨了他们如何在疫情中进一步处于不利地位。于2020年2月至4月期间，我们与35名来自香港贫穷阶层的参与者进行了深入的半结构式访谈。外科口罩及消毒产品价格高昂，加上与COVID-19相关的社交距离政策所带来的经济影响，对参与者造成沉重的经济负担。除了经济和住房匮乏外，社会不平等与健康不平等密切相关，这使得参与者更容易受到感染。社会不平等与健康不平等相关，并可能加剧健康不平等。在此，在COVID-19疫情期间，社会经济地位较低的参与者在健康和获得就业、教育、口罩、消毒产品和使用公共设施的权利等社会资源方面处于更不利的地位。所有这些因素都可能产生相互关联的影响，反过来又限制了获得医疗保健的机会，导致健康成果不那么积极，从而导致健康不平等。
Health inequality creates conditions for the transmission of infectious diseases, and existing health disparities can contribute to unequal burdens of morbidity and mortality. In Hong Kong, low socioeconomic districts were the epicentres of third-wave outbreak of COVID-19 in July and August 2020, suggesting that people from low socioeconomic class are vulnerable groups. Socially disadvantaged people are relatively more vulnerable to the physical, mental, and social impacts of infectious diseases. To achieve more effective infection control, the social determinants of health and existing health inequalities should be identified, and understanding the experiences of socially disadvantaged groups in the COVID-19 outbreak will be beneficial to health authorities in formulating a responsive infection control policy targeting the needs of the socially disadvantaged. This article investigates the experiences of economically disadvantaged groups during the COVID-19 outbreak and examines how they were further disadvantaged in the outbreak by delineating how health inequality intersected with social inequality. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted from February to April 2020 with 35 participants from the poverty class in Hong Kong. The high prices of surgical face masks and disinfecting products as well as the economic impacts induced by COVID-19-related social distancing policies imposed severe economic burden on the participants. In addition to economic and housing deprivation, social inequality was closely associated with health inequality, which made the participants more vulnerable to infection. Social inequality is associated with and can worsen health inequality. Here, the participants, who were of low socioeconomic status were more disadvantaged in health and in the attainment of social resources such as employment, education, face masks, disinfection products and right to use public facilities, during the COVID-19 outbreak. All these elements may have interrelated effects and in turn limit accessibility to healthcare and lead to less positive health outcomes and consequently to health inequality.