COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating social inequality
In the early days of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, many scientists compared its effects to the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak. A century ago, this unusually virulent influenza infected more than 500 million people across the globe and claimed the lives of 50 million. Since then, epidemiologists have been trying to glean insights into how it spread and to identify the most susceptible people.
The Spanish flu has been commonly classified as a “crowd disease,” in that it spread easily and swiftly when people came into close contact with infected individuals, either in poor urban areas, like in crowded housing, or high density areas, such as schools or workplaces. Additionally, poor nutrition and sanitation, stress, long working hours and pre-existing health conditions were all contributing factors to weakening the body’s immune system and its ability to fight off the disease. In short, people from low socioeconomic backgrounds suffered the most during the 1918 pandemic.
In modern times, research has informed us that the COVID-19 virus also affects different sections of society in very different ways, with people who are older, have pre-existing health conditions and/or low socioeconomic status being the most vulnerable. This means that those with limited education, health coverage, financial security, adequate housing, and other well-being factors are more likely than others to get infected or die from the virus. The World Bank estimates that the current pandemic could push 71 to 100 million people into extreme poverty this year. While many governments — such as those in Singapore, the UK and US — have provided
Sara Al-Mulla is an Emirati civil servant with an interest in human development policy and children’s literature. financial relief to affected individuals, the harsh reality is that governments’ budgets are overstretched, application systems are overwhelmed, and the eligibility criteria are strict, thus limiting the number of beneficiaries and the amounts dispensed.
Populations living below the poverty line are more likely to suffer chronic health problems, thus increasing their chances of dying from the virus tenfold, according to research by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Furthermore, the added stresses of living in poverty and with limited access to affordable health care services have aggravated the health conditions of lower-income groups.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the harsh realities of social inequality. As we begin to rebuild and imagine a new post-pandemic world, policymakers need to prioritize policies aimed at ending inequality. It is vital that governments offer universal K-12 education and university grants in order to allow people to pursue better employment opportunities in the future. Additionally, governments can partner with the private sector to create more jobs, increase the minimum wage, and promote fair wage growth for low-income groups. In terms of social services, familyfriendly policies must be enacted at workplaces to allow parents to work while also caring for their children, without the need to resort to expensive child care services. Governments also need to increase the coverage of social services, such as unemployment benefits, housing grants and health care coverage, to support vulnerable groups.
All of these policies have the potential to dramatically improve opportunities for disadvantaged groups and grant them their right to a better quality of life.