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. 2022 Feb;9(1):376-383.
doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-00999-5. Epub 2021 Mar 8.

The Impact of Health Disparities on COVID-19 Outcomes: Early Findings from a High-Income Country and Two Middle-Income Countries

Gail Denise Hughes  1 , Oluchi Nneka Mbamalu  2 , Christabel Osaretin Okonji  3 , Thandi Rose Puoane  4
Affiliations

The Impact of Health Disparities on COVID-19 Outcomes: Early Findings from a High-Income Country and Two Middle-Income Countries

Gail Denise Hughes et al. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 infection, which causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has affected lives, with very adverse outcomes in specific populations in the United States of America (USA), a high-income country, and two middle-income countries, Brazil and South Africa. This paper aims to discuss the relationship of race/ethnicity with COVID-19-associated factors in the three countries. The information is based on data collected from infectious disease/epidemiological centers in the USA, Brazil, and South Africa. Adverse COVID-19 outcomes have been associated with the burden of exposure and disease, linked to socioeconomic determinants, among specific ethnicities in all three countries. The prevalence of comorbidities before and the likelihood of work-related exposure in the context of COVID-19 infection puts ethnic minorities in the USA and some ethnic majorities and minorities in Brazil and South Africa at greater risk. We envisage that this work will contribute to ongoing discussions related to addressing socioeconomic determinants of health, and the need for stakeholders in various sectors to work on addressing observed health disparities for overall improvement in health and healthcare given the current pandemic.

Keywords: Brazil; COVID-19; Comorbidities; Racial/ethnic disparity; South Africa; United States of America.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Confirmed COVID-19 virus infection cases (solid lines) and deaths (broken lines) up till 28 September 2020 in South Africa, Brazil, and the USA
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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