Link to the full article being reviewed.
As the United States passes into its third year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become very apparent that there exists many long standing health inequities in the healthcare system. Nancy Kreiger, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s School of Public Health performs a Q&A with the New Yorker going into depth regarding the healthcare framework in the U.S. and how apparent it has become that large inequalities exist due to inequitable social structures within our communities. Although this Q&A was performed back towards the early stages of the pandemic, Kreiger’s commentary still holds true today with even greater evidence. Kreiger lists a variety of factors influencing the limited access to healthcare people of color as well underprivileged and underserved communities have. These groups of people are at a much higher risk for getting COVID. Furthermore, Kreiger then goes on to list a variety of steps that could be implemented to mitigate the existing disparities related to COVID-19, such as improving the conditions among individuals who are incarcerated, attending to the needs of homeless people, as well as educating people on how to practice safety measures, in multiple languages. This article provides an extensive overview of the faults within the healthcare system, making it an informative read for someone hoping to better understand health disparities that exist within the U.S.
Reviewed by: Marium Haq