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COVID-19 AND ETHNIC MINORITIES

Are we responsible for the racial inequalities of covid-19?
Varathagini Balakumar, 1 Arangan Kirubakaran, 2 Shabnam Tariq1

The covid-19 pandemic has revealed the depth of
social and racial inequalities in the United Kingdom.
These inequalities existed long before the pandemic,
but they have taken on a greater significance in the
past few months. Perhaps this is a direct result of the
death of George Floyd and the ongoing Black Lives
Matter protests, which have brought inequalities and
institutional bias to the forefront of public
consciousness. The NHS, for all its merits, should not
be exempt from scrutiny.

The circumstances around publication of the Public
Health England report are a perfect illustration of the
problem at hand. The apparent delay in publication
and potential suppression described by Khunti and
colleagues1 is striking: if we were not in the middle
of worldwide anti-racism protests, would this report
have gone quietly unnoticed?

Although the reasons for the adverse effects of
covid-19 seen in the black, Asian, and minority ethnic
(BAME) population are subject to debate, ranging
from differences in genetics to socioeconomic
factors,2 there is, to some extent, an insidiously
dangerous mindset among policy makers and major
stakeholders. The predominance of sickle cell disease
in the Afro-Caribbean population and the prevalence
of diabetes in the South Asian community are well
known, for example, but these issues are rarely
described as key national policies for the betterment
of public health.

Our categorisation and characterisation of these
issues is also problematic as they are often framed
as intriguing statistical variations among ethnic
groups rather than key priorities for public health
policy. Combatting these inequalities is a difficult
and multifactorial process that will not be easy to
reverse. Nevertheless, as a society, and particularly
as healthcare professionals, we must take collective
responsibility for resolving these problems.

Covid-19 has brought us to a sombre reflection:
through our inability and reluctance to solve these
inequalities, have our actions (or lack thereof) as
healthcare professionals and as a society contributed
the steep death toll of covid-19 in the BAME
community?

Competing interests: None declared.

1 Khunti K, Platt L, Routen A, Abbasi K. Covid-19 and ethnic minorities: an
urgent agenda for overdue action. BMJ 2020;369:m2503.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.m2503 pmid: 32576558

2 Abuelgasim E, Saw LJ, Shirke M, Zeinah M, Harky A. Covid-19: unique
public health issues facing Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities.
Curr Probl Cardiol 2020;45:.
doi: 10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2020.100621 pmid: 32448759

This article is made freely available for use in accordance with BMJ's website
termsandconditions for thedurationof thecovid-19pandemicoruntilotherwise
determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful,
non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all
copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

1the bmj | BMJ 2020;370:m2873 | doi: 10.1136/bmj.m2873

LETTERS

1 SchoolofMedicine,CardiffUniversity,
Cardiff CF14 4YS, UK

2 Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, UK

balakumarv@cardiff.ac.uk

Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m2873

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2873

Published: 22 July 2020

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