A New Normal. That’s the way experts are describing life in the United States once we come to the end of stay at home orders and social distancing to flatten the coronavirus curve. This pandemic has exposed deeply rooted disparities and inequities in health, education, and access and has emphasized why we must provide equitable healthcare, paid sick leave, supplemental food, and income benefits to close the digital divide for the most vulnerable of our communities in an effort to protect entire populations.
The April 7th issue of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Fresh Perspectives blog, We Are All Vulnerable: Our Strength Is in Our Communities, identifies how our society has collectively failed its most vulnerable people and shared insight that can improve the health and well-being of our communities today, tomorrow, and long after the pandemic is behind us. The author, Moazzum Bajwa, MD, MPH, MSc, assistant professor of family medicine at the University of California, Riverside, states, “Our legacy in community-building will remain beyond the direct and immediate impact of this global pandemic. It is through our collective action that we will weather the storm ahead and further confront the complex structural inequalities that plague our health care system.”
As family physicians, you see the impact and the influence that you have on the lives of the patients that you touch. Understanding the force and might behind the specialty, the AAFP launched the Center for Diversity and Health Equity with a focus on workforce diversity, advancing healthy policies, providing education and practice tools, and establishing interdisciplinary collaborations to advance health equity and the social determinants of health. To help family physicians to be champions of health equity, practical resources are available through the AAFP’s EveryONE project to utilize in practice, at your statehouse, or within your communities.
- Coronavirus in Ohio Hitting African Americans Hardest
- As Coronavirus Deepens Inequality, Inequality Worsens Its Spread
- ‘If We Don’t Work, We Don’t Get Paid.’ How the Coronavirus is Exposing Inequality among America’s Workers
- COVID-19 Pandemic Highlights Inequality, Disparity In Social, Economic Factors Worldwide