COVID-19: Challenges to stop an epidemic in a country with major social inequalities

Abstract

In the last decade, national studies have shown a reduction in the number of deaths from infectious diseases, but this is still a public health problem in Brazil.3,4 Income generation and distribution policies for the neediest populations, the public health service (in Portuguese, Sistema Único de Saúde SUS) and other social and environmental improvements, including basic sanitation and quality education are crucial for efforts to control infectious diseases. As the pandemic spreads, the SUS finds it difficult to deal with the crisis. In addition to the lack of basic resources such as personal protective equipment, a shortage of intensive care beds for the sickest patients is already worrying. The pandemic threatens to collapse the Brazilian public health system and poor populations that do not have access to health services under normal circumstances are disproportionately more vulnerable in times of crisis. Furthermore, misinformation greatly affects individuals with limited access to information channels, which are more likely to ignore government health warnings.