Covid hits poor Scots harder than the well-off
COVID has hit poor Scots as badly as diabetes.
A new hard-hitting report by Public Health Scotland has found those living in our most deprived streets have lost more than double the number of years to ill-health and early death because of the virus than their better-off counterparts.
Scotland’s former Chief Medical Officer Sir Harry Burns has warned existing inequalities had been heightened by the pandemic.
He said: “Covid has compounded the serious health inequalities we already had.
“If you are worried about your income and things like furlough ending and reductions in universal credit your physical health is going to suffer too. If you struggled before the pandemic, Covid has made it worse.”
The study looked at years lost in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) during 2020.
DALYs measure the number of years lost due to ill-health, disabilityability or earlye death.
It can be caused by smsmoking, drugtakitaking, drinking and obesity lealeading to heart and breathing ississues.
It found that ineqinequality-related years lost to illhealthhealth andan early death due toCovidtoCovid wwere similar to those lost annually to diabetes.
The most deprived areas of the country suffered up to 3067 DALYs per 100,000 people and least deprived just 1189.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “This is yet more damning evidence of the inequality which is rife in Scotland today.
“After 14 years of the SNP in power, inequality is deepening.
“If we are to learn anything from the pandemic, one key lesson is that inequality is not just a social issue but a matter of life and death.”
A Scottish Government spokesman countered: “It is an unwelcome reality that communities experience health, quality of life and life expectancy differently across our society and our Programme for Government includes commitments to improve life expectancy and to tackle health inequalities.”