EPHA Stakeholder Response Meeting exposes needs of marginalised groups and community responses during COVID-19 pandemic
On 24 June 2020, EPHA organised a COVID-19 Stakeholder Response Meeting to which it invited EPHA members working primarily with marginalised groups particularly affected by the pandemic, as well as members of the Nobody Left Outside (NLO) Coalition whose October 2019 Joint Statement (developed as a Thematic Network under the EU Health Policy Platform) endorsed by EPHA in 2019 and who continue to be valued partners. In addition to the civil society representatives, EPHA invited key WHO officers involved in the European and global COVID-19 response based at the Copenhagen, Geneva and Venice offices.
On the one hand, the meeting served to provide an overview of WHO’s coordinated work to develop a holistic approach to tackling the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic. On the other, it enabled civil society representatives to share concrete examples of the problems faced by vulnerable populations, as well as of community responses taken to cope with the pandemic. The relative lack of comparable data and qualitative evidence pertaining to the health situation of society’s most vulnerable, combined with fundamental rights infringements experienced in a number of countries since the beginning of the pandemic, led to a delayed relay of information between civil society and policymakers. Many marginalised groups are suffering in silence and have lost the little support they were able to access before the coronavirus turned their lives upside down: the homeless and people living in poverty, undocumented migrants and refugees / asylum seekers, Roma communities, LGBTQI+ people, sex workers, prisoners and certain categories of patients are only few of the groups subject to increased health inequalities and exclusion as a result of the exacerbation of problems brought about by the pandemic, and for whom physical distancing, getting tested or accessing quality healthcare is near impossible.
EPHA Scientific Advisor for Health Inequalities, Joan Benach stated that “COVID-19 has been a pandemic of inequality” affecting specific groups such as old people, workers on low income, people without formal status, etc., the most. Moreover, there are gender disparities given that many women are in less secure employment and they are often also more affected by school and childcare closures, making it difficult to juggle responsibilities and make ends meet.
The meeting report provides a rich account of the testimonies provided by representatives of these vulnerable groups and those who work with them on a daily basis, with additional materials provided by the speakers that were shared with WHO. There was a strong consensus that more must be done to ensure that marginalised groups’ voices are heard in these difficult times. WHO colleagues stressed the critical role played by civil society in describing the situation on the ground as this could help guide the mobilisation of resources. The need to maintain quality care to prevent and treat other diseases during the pandemic was also stressed.
Following the meeting, the NLO Coalition developed a comprehensive briefing paper in August 2020 for the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development, which further describes the particular challenges and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and government responses among marginalised groups in Europe.
