[Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health inequalities and mental health: effective public policies]. / Gli effetti della pandemia COVID-19 sulle disuguaglianze di salute e salute mentale: politiche pubbliche efficaci.

The aim of this article is to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health inequalities and mental disorders and to analyse the most effective public policies in containing them. COVID-19, in addition to causing the worst health crisis since World War II, has generated a severe economic recession and a rise in unemployment. The poorer socioeconomic classes have been most affected by infections and deaths caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus due to inequalities in working, housing and area of ​​residence conditions, psychosocial factors, and unequal access to health care. The pandemic crisis, in addition to causing psychiatric and neurological problems in people who have been hospitalized, appears to have increased the risk of psychological problems through various mechanisms such as social distancing, loss of a loved one, unemployment, and economic difficulties. In many countries, however, there was no significant increase in suicides in 2020 and there have even been decreasing temporal trends. It is possible that the crisis, in addition to creating stress and social isolation, may have promoted reciprocity, interpersonal help, and greater motivation to take care of one's health.The most effective policies in reducing COVID-19 mortality have the potential to limit the most adverse effects of the pandemic on health inequalities and mental health. Thanks to vigorous preventive interventions on the territory, based on testing, tracing, isolating, timely, countries who managed best the pandemic avoided prolonged and repeated lockdowns, protected public health and the economy. However, more vigorous social protection measures are needed in favour of those populations most affected by the health crisis and its socioeconomic effects. This pandemic offers the opportunity to learn lessons on the protection of public health and stress the need to adopt a syndemic model oriented towards prevention.

COVID-19 and the ecological crisis: What do they have in common?

This lecture transcript is divided in four parts. First, I examine the main public-health strategies in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there are numerous factors capable of explaining national differences in COVID-19 mortality that are not attributable to merits or demerits of governments, I have identified five lethal errors (lack of preparation, misinformation, medicalisation, a policy approach based on a 'laissez-faire' attitude to the virus and social inequity) and four vital actions (testing, tracing, isolating with support, timeliness and immunisation) that best distinguish success or failure in tackling the pandemic. In the second part, I analyse the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and major risk factors for emerging zoonotic diseases (e.g. exploitation of animal wildlife, deforestation, agricultural intensification and climate change) to be addressed to prevent future pandemics. Then, I discuss the interrelationships between the COVID-19 pandemic and the ecological crisis in the context of the so-called neoliberal variant of capitalism. Both crises are largely determined by anthropogenic risk factors influenced by a model of economic development that prioritises infinite economic growth, free trade and a global self-regulating market over any other values of society (including human survival). An alternative economic approach, capable of creating a new balance between the health of humans, animals, and the environment (by modifying their structural drivers), is the most important antidote against new spillovers and climate change. It is the humanitarian immune response we need to protect global health from future pandemics and ecological collapse.

Socioeconomic inequalities and the Covid-19 pandemic

The aim of this review is to examine the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on health inequalities and discuss effective public policies in containing them. The Covid-19 pandemic has generated not only an unprecedented health crisis, but also a severe economic recession and rapid increase in unemployment and economic difficulties. The poorer socioeconomic classes have been most affected by SARS-CoV-2 infections and deaths due to inequalities in working, housing and area of residence conditions, psychosocial factors, as well as unequal access to health care. However, the effects of the pandemic on health inequalities can be tackled by effective policies of Covid-19 containment based on testing, tracing and isolate timely and stronger social protection measures on behalf of the most disadvantaged populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Italian) Lo scopo di questa review e esaminare gli effetti della pandemia di Covid-19 sulle disuguaglianze sanitarie e discutere politiche pubbliche efficaci per contenerle. La pandemia di Covid-19 ha generato non solo una crisi sanitaria senza precedenti, ma anche una grave recessione economica e un rapido aumento della disoccupazione e delle difficolta economiche. Le classi socioeconomiche piu povere sono state le piu colpite dalle infezioni e dai decessi da SARS-CoV-2 a causa delle disuguaglianze nelle condizioni di lavoro, abitative e dell'area di residenza, fattori psicosociali e disuguale accesso all'assistenza sanitaria. Tuttavia, gli effetti della pandemia sulle disuguaglianze sanitarie possono essere affrontati con efficaci politiche di contenimento del Covid-19 basate su test, tracciamento e isolamento di misure di protezione sociale tempestive e piu forti a favore delle popolazioni piu svantaggiate. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)