The unequal pandemic: investigating the relationship between health equity and political responses to covid-19

Research problem and specific questions Countries’ political responses to covid-19 share an outspoken goal to protect public health, but are highly diverse in both design and outcome.

In a set of three integrated studies, the purpose of this project is to investigate the political determinants of health equity during the covid-19 pandemic.

In the first study, we aim to analyse the reciprocal relationship between political responses and global burden of covid-19 and how it has developed over time.

In the second study, we will generate a typology of political responses in European countries, taking into consideration how they explicitly address, discursively frame and implicitly affect health equity.

In the third study, we will use Nordic registers to decompose inequalities in mortality and hospitalisations by their underlying causes and compare trends before and during the pandemic, using the results of the two first studies as an interpretative framework.

Data and methodThe project will use open data on political responses and burden of covid-19, written policy documents and aggregated Nordic register data.

The first study will combine the parametric g-formula with an empirical cluster analysis to analyse the relationships between political responses and burden of covid-19 on a global level. The second study will conduct a policy analysis with particular consideration of health equity a European context.

The third study will use a decomposition model and population registers to analyse health inequity trends in the Nordic countries during the pandemic.

Plan for project realisationWe follow an integrative approach in the project with the results of the individual studies feeding in to each other.

The project group consists of five researchers at the Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, combining their experiences in quantitative health research, policy analysis and health equity studies. The project budget covers part-time salary costs for the participating researchers over the three-year project period.

RelevanceThe covid-19 pandemic has been accompanied by a global political response that is unprecedented in magnitude.

Understanding how pandemic policy deals with health inequities that emerge as a result of complex interactions between exposure, vulnerability and social consequences of covid-19 will be essential in preparing for future pandemics.