Despite the health, social and environmental benefits of high-quality housing developments, delivering healthy and sustainable homes and neighbourhoods remains a challenging task. In this blog, Caglar Koksal outlines how housing developers and local authorities can work together to create healthy, high-quality homes while also addressing long-standing health and housing inequalities. High-quality developments deliver positive public […]
How the digital healthcare revolution leaves the most vulnerable behind
Digital technology in healthcare was vital during the COVID-19 pandemic to make sure that people maintained access to health services when they were not available in-person. However, the move to digital healthcare disadvantaged some patients and placed them at risk of greater inequality and vulnerability. Here, Dr Omer Ali, Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno, Dr Claudia Pagliari […]
Air pollution: a place-based community-centred approach
There are major disparities in the impacts of air pollution, with low-income communities facing greater health risks due to higher exposure to air pollutants. In this blog, Professor Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist and Academic Lead for Public Engagement with Research at The University of Manchester, outlines the disproportionate health effects of air pollution on marginalised […]
COVID-19 and access to healthcare services: lessons from patient organisations in Turkey
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a number of rapid changes to healthcare systems. Hospitals were transformed into pandemic-oriented hospitals, elective surgeries were cancelled, or postponed, and face-to-face consultations were moved to virtual platforms. Many countries experienced shortages of medical supplies, especially ICU beds and ventilators, resulting in rationing of limited healthcare resources. In this […]
LGBTIQ+ people in Brazil left to support themselves during COVID-19: vulnerabilities, coping strategies, and recommendations for more inclusive crisis policies
A version of this blog is available to read in Portuguese here. COVID-19 has brought huge change to society. However, the impacts have been different and disproportionate for different groups including LGBTIQ+ populations. As University of Manchester research has reported, there have been gaps in government and transnational responses in recognising and addressing those inequalities. […]
The impact of COVID-19 on Rochdale’s Pakistani communities
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light increased health risks among groups labelled Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME), exposing many stark inequalities. Lockdown measures are impacting all aspects of life, but differentially impacting students and families from disadvantaged areas. Here, Dr Sophina Choudry, Professor Erica Burman, Professor Julian Williams, Sidra Iftikhar and Dr Yasmeen […]
Inequalities in ageing: health disadvantages amongst ethnic minority groups
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on most ethnic minority groups in England. But this inequality is a crisis within a crisis – the pandemic has laid bare and exacerbated existing deep-rooted health inequalities. Here, Dr Ruth Watkinson and Dr Alex Turner, from the Health Organisation, Policy and Economics group (HOPE) and the […]
Black mental health matters: Time to eradicate long-standing ethnic inequalities in mental healthcare
In 2018, ethnic inequalities in mental health treatment led the Royal College of Psychiatrists to endorse the position that mental healthcare in the UK is institutionally racist. In this blog, Jamal Alston, Dr Henna Lemetyinen, and Professor Dawn Edge explain how these inequalities present themselves, and use their research to outline new policies for mental […]
Health for wealth: The link between health inequalities and productivity in northern England
Productivity in the UK, and particularly in the northern regions of England, has remained stubbornly low for decades, prompting economists to discuss a ‘productivity puzzle’. Here, Dr Luke Munford, explains how his research into health inequalities in northern England shows that investing in the health of the population could translate directly into substantial gains in […]
Locked down by inequality: Why place matters for older people during COVID-19
Older people have borne the brunt of deaths from COVID-19, whether in hospital or in care homes. At the same time, the coronavirus emergency sits alongside a crisis in many of the communities in which older people live. In this blog, Chris Phillipson, Camilla Lewis, Tine Buffel, Patty Doran and Sophie Yarker examine how the […]