Parallel session 1: COVID-19 and Health Inequalities

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and amplified health disparities that existed already before the pandemic. Socially disadvantaged groups, including low-income populations and racial and ethnic minorities, are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. They also have a higher risk of experiencing detrimental health effects due to reduced capacity and outreach of health care services for other health problems - as well as from social and public health pandemic mitigation measures. Women and girls face disproportionate impacts. The pandemic potentially reverses decades of progress related to the SDGs. This session will discuss health inequalities in various contexts and identify actionable research areas and policy actions needed to respond to the pandemic in an equitable way, supporting inclusive recovery. 

Key question

Reflecting the discussions in this session, what are the three most important recommendations for policy development and reform addressing global post-COVID-19 inequalities in health?

Programme and participants

13:00-13:05    Welcome

Dr. Paul Fife, Director for Global Health, Education and Human Rights, Norad

Dr. Jeanette H. Magnus, Director, The Centre for Global Health, University of Oslo

13:05-13:15    “The COVID-19 Pandemic and Health Inequalities”

Prof. Clare Bambra, Professor of Public Health, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University

13:15-13:25    “COVID-19 and Health Inequalities: The Case for Transparent and Inclusive Decision-Making”

Prof. Ole Frithjof Norheim, Director, Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS), University of Bergen

13:25-13:50    “Country experiences, public health strategies and effects on inequalities”

Ghana: Dr. Anthony Ofosu, Deputy Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Health & and co-investigator for the Ghana country research on COVID-19 and West and Central African health systems (Catalyse)

Nepal: Prof. Bernadette Kumar, Empower School of Health in India, Chair, Global Society on Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Health; Co-Chair of UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health; President, EUPHA Section Migration and Ethnic Minority Health

Peru: Dr. Valerie Paz Soldan, Research Associate at the School of Public Health and Administration at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima & Associate Professor in the Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

13:50-14:15    Discussion in moderated break-out rooms: “Reflecting the discussions in this session, what are the three most important recommendations for policy development and reform addressing global post-COVID-19 inequalities in health?”

14:15-14:30    Report from break-out rooms, summary and closing

Prof. Terje Andreas Eikemo, Leader of Centre for Global Health Inequalities Research (CHAIN), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Session organizer and resource persons

Moderator/session organizer: Paul Richard Fife, Director for Global Health, Education and Human Rights, Norad

Discussant: Prof. Terje Andreas Eikemo, Leader of Centre for Global Health Inequalities

Jeanette Magnus, Director, Centre for Global Health, University of Oslo

Research (CHAIN), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Ingvild Fossgard Sandøy, Professor, Centre for International Health; Deputy director CISMAC, University of Bergen

Ingeborg Haavardsson, Coordinator, Centre for Global Health, University of Oslo