How health inequality affect responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa

Okoi, Obasesam; Bwawa, Tatenda

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105067

Cited by 61 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The same concerns are raised by Wang and Tang [ 29 ] who note that in the case of China, health equity should be the focus of all policies designed to strengthen the country’s health system and emergency responses during health crises in the future. Okoi and Bwawa [ 30 ] similarly highlight the difficulties faced by Sub-Saharan African countries in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak in the absence of basic hygiene facilities. Future studies might examine why some democracies have managed to put in place more targeted policies over others, and identify the precise policies and processes that have affected the disparities in the death rates.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health-system equity, egalitarian democracy and COVID-19 outcomes: An empirical analysis

Vadlamannati

Cooray

Soysa

2021

Scand J Public Health

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Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a spate of studies showing a close connection between inequitable access to health care, welfare services and adverse outcomes from the pandemic. Others have argued that democratic governments have generally failed relative to more autocratic ones, simply because autocrats can make the hard choices required for stemming the spread of viruses. We address this question by asking whether more ‘egalitarian’ forms of democracy matter, given that they contain more equitable health-care access and societal infrastructure, such as social capital and trust. Methods: We use standard regression techniques, including instrumental variables analysis addressing endogeneity on COVID-19 testing and deaths data as of the end of May and beginning of September. We use novel data from the Varieties of Democracy Project on health-system equity and egalitarian democracy. Results: Our results suggest that more equitable access to health care increases testing rates and lowers the death rate from COVID-19. Broader egalitarian governance, measured as egalitarian democracy, however, shows the opposite effect. Thus, factors associated with health-care capacity to reach and treat matter more than broader societal factors associated with social capital and trust. The results are robust to alternative testing procedures, including instrumental variable technique for addressing potential endogeneity. Conclusions: Despite a great deal of public health focus on how equitable governance helps fight the adverse effects of so-called neoliberal pandemics, we find that broadly egalitarian factors have had the opposite effect on fighting COVID-19, especially when an equitable health system has been taken into account. Fighting disease, thus, might be more about the capacity of health systems rather than societal factors, such as trust in government and social capital.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health-system equity, egalitarian democracy and COVID-19 outcomes: An empirical analysis

Vadlamannati

Cooray

Soysa

2021

Scand J Public Health

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“…Burström and Tao ( 2020 ) similarly remarked that COVID-19 had a more significant impact on people in the lower socio-economic class and minority groups. With reference to Africa, Okoi and Bwawa ( 2020 ) also showed that health inequalities adversely affected people’s responses to COVID-19.…”

Section: Reflection 2: Health Inequalities and Health Disparitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and Quality of Life: Twelve Reflections

Shek

2021

Applied Research Quality Life

147

100

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COVID-19 has severely affected the world since December 2020. Because of its sudden onset and highly contagious nature, the world has responded in a “crisis management” manner. With effective vaccines almost available, it is appropriate at this time to have some reflections about COVID-19 in relation to the quality of life issues. In this paper, we highlight twelve issues for reflection, which can help us better prepared for future pandemics. These include: digital divide, health inequality, gender inequality, economic disadvantage, family well-being, impact on holistic well-being, economic development versus saving lives, consumption versus environmental protection, individual rights versus collective rights, international collaboration versus conflict, prevention of negative well-being, and promotion of positive well-being.

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“…The issue of the COVID-19 outbreak and its impacts have been the focus of extensive research among many scholars. One strand of studies examines the impact of COVID-19 on different industries, such as Mishra and Rampal [18] , Okoi and Bwawa [21] for medical industry, Fezzi and Fanghella [9] for electricity industry, Sigala [25] and Lee and Chen [12] for tourism industry, Wang et al. [28] for insurance industry, and Liu et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of COVID-19 on freight transport: Evidence from China

Ho¹,

Xing²,

Wu³

2021

MethodsX

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Using a monthly panel data of 13 Chinese provinces (cities) over the period from December 2019 to August 2020, this research investigates the impact of COVID-19 on the freight transport. We find that COVID-19 has a positive impact on the road freight transport turnover. This effect is pronounced under the higher numbers of COVID-19 confirmed cases and the lower level of gasoline production, and vice versa. In brief, This study finds that COVID-19 has a positive impact on the road freight transport turnover. This effect is pronounced under the higher numbers of COVID-19 confirmed cases and the lower level of gasoline production, and vice versa.

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How health inequality affect responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cited by 61 publications

References 23 publications

Health-system equity, egalitarian democracy and COVID-19 outcomes: An empirical analysis

Health-system equity, egalitarian democracy and COVID-19 outcomes: An empirical analysis

COVID-19 and Quality of Life: Twelve Reflections

The impact of COVID-19 on freight transport: Evidence from China

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