Disproportionate infection, hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 in ethnic minority groups and Indigenous Peoples: an application of the Priority Public Health Conditions analytical framework.
Patricia Irizar, Daniel Pan, Harry Taylor, Christopher A Martin, Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi, Niluka Wijekoon Kannangarage, Susana Gomez, Daniel La Parra Casado, Prashanth Nuggehalli Srinivas, Finn Diderichsen, Rebecca F Baggaley, Laura B Nellums, Theadora Swift Koller, Manish Pareek
Author Information
Patricia Irizar: Faculty of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK.
Daniel Pan: Department of Respiratory Sciences, University of Leicester, UK.
Harry Taylor: Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, King's College London, UK.
Christopher A Martin: Department of Respiratory Sciences, University of Leicester, UK.
Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi: MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, UK.
Niluka Wijekoon Kannangarage: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Susana Gomez: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Daniel La Parra Casado: Department of Sociology, University of Alicante, Spain.
Prashanth Nuggehalli Srinivas: Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, India.
Finn Diderichsen: University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Rebecca F Baggaley: Leicester NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, UK.
Laura B Nellums: Lifespan and Population Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, UK.
Theadora Swift Koller: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Manish Pareek: Department of Respiratory Sciences, University of Leicester, UK.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in disproportionate consequences for ethnic minority groups and Indigenous Peoples. We present an application of the Priority Public Health Conditions (PPHC) framework from the World Health Organisation (WHO), to explicitly address COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses of pandemic potential. This application is supported by evidence that ethnic minority groups were more likely to be infected, implying differential exposure (PPHC level two), be more vulnerable to severe disease once infected (PPHC level three) and have poorer health outcomes following infection (PPHC level four). These inequities are driven by various interconnected dimensions of racism, that compounds with socioeconomic context and position (PPHC level one). We show that, for respiratory viruses, it is important to stratify levels of the PPHC framework by infection status and by societal, community, and individual factors to develop optimal interventions to reduce inequity from COVID-19 and future infectious diseases outbreaks.
