Article by Germaine Tuyisenge and Shira Goldenberg. The Lancet.
February 1, 2021.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, questions of who has been most affected and where interventions should be targeted increasingly recognise the disproportionate and long-standing health inequities faced by racialised communities (a social construct describing groups that have racial meanings associated with them that affect their economic, political, and social lives) and migrant communities in many settings. By migrants, we refer to a broad diversity of people born in other countries, including long-term and recent arrivals, refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants, and undocumented migrants. Although evidence from some countries shows heavily racialised effects of COVID-19, there has been scarce discourse and intervention addressing the manifestation and role of structural racism in shaping the pandemic's pattern and toll among migrants.
Unpacking the role of structural racism (the macro-level systems, social forces, institutions, ideologies, and processes that interact with one another to generate and reinforce inequities faced by racialised communities) remains crucial for understanding the effects of COVID-19 and pandemic responses among migrants in high-income countries.
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