Open AccessImmigrant Communities and COVID-19: Strengthening the Public Health Response
Author(s) -
Lan Ðoàn,
Stella Chong,
Supriya Misra,
Simona Kwon,
Stella S. Yi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2021.306433
Subject(s) - public health , health care , health equity , socioeconomic status , immigration , economic growth , social distance , pandemic , social determinants of health , business , environmental health , political science , public relations , medicine , covid-19 , population , nursing , economics , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the many broken fragments of US health care and social service systems, reinforcing extant health and socioeconomic inequities faced by structurally marginalized immigrant communities. Throughout the pandemic, even during the most critical period of rising cases in different epicenters, immigrants continued to work in high-risk-exposure environments while simultaneously having less access to health care and economic relief and facing discrimination. We describe systemic factors that have adversely affected low-income immigrants, including limiting their work opportunities to essential jobs, living in substandard housing conditions that do not allow for social distancing or space to safely isolate from others in the household, and policies that discourage access to public resources that are available to them or that make resources completely inaccessible. We demonstrate that the current public health infrastructure has not improved health care access or linkages to necessary services, treatments, or culturally competent health care providers, and we provide suggestions for how the Public Health 3.0 framework could advance this. We recommend the following strategies to improve the Public Health 3.0 public health infrastructure and mitigate widening disparities: (1) address the social determinants of health, (2) broaden engagement with stakeholders across multiple sectors, and (3) develop appropriate tools and technologies. ( Am J Public Health. 2021;111(S3):S224-S231. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306433).