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record ethnicity on all death certificates to start building a clearer picture
# 1
If one thing is clear by now from the coronavirus pandemic, it is that the disease does not affect everyone equally.
Analysis from the Office for National Statistics starkly outlines that those living in areas with high levels of deprivation are being most heavily impacted. There have been 55 deaths for every 100,000 people in the poorest parts of England, compared with 25 in the wealthiest areas.
There is also mounting evidence that black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are being disproportionately affected by the virus. Black men are more than four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their white counterparts. Likewise, non-white patients with COVID-19 have been shown to make up more than 34% of those in intensive care.
These figures are truly shocking, and have led to the announcement of an official inquiry, to be headed by NHS England and Public Health England, into the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
Such figures also make clear the need for data that is disaggregated – separated out into categories – by protected characteristics such as ethnicity, disability, age and gender.
As the outbreak has progressed, there has been growing recognition of this from the government and in mid-April, Public Health England announced it was to start recording COVID-19 cases and deaths in hospitals by ethnicity.
But we are still not doing enough. Only by adding ethnicity onto all death certificates will we be able to establish a complete picture of the impact on those from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
Governing with our hands tied
There’s another pressing problem: the fact that we didn’t collect this data in the past makes it even harder to come up with a policy response to the crisis today. Even as we begin disaggregating data now, we suffer from the problem of not being able to compare it to data before the pandemic began.
Not having access to this fine-tuned data means government officials are forced to operate with one hand tied behind their back in formulating health and social policies in response to COVID-19.
Analysis from the Office for National Statistics starkly outlines that those living in areas with high levels of deprivation are being most heavily impacted. There have been 55 deaths for every 100,000 people in the poorest parts of England, compared with 25 in the wealthiest areas.
There is also mounting evidence that black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are being disproportionately affected by the virus. Black men are more than four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their white counterparts. Likewise, non-white patients with COVID-19 have been shown to make up more than 34% of those in intensive care.
These figures are truly shocking, and have led to the announcement of an official inquiry, to be headed by NHS England and Public Health England, into the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
Such figures also make clear the need for data that is disaggregated – separated out into categories – by protected characteristics such as ethnicity, disability, age and gender.
As the outbreak has progressed, there has been growing recognition of this from the government and in mid-April, Public Health England announced it was to start recording COVID-19 cases and deaths in hospitals by ethnicity.
But we are still not doing enough. Only by adding ethnicity onto all death certificates will we be able to establish a complete picture of the impact on those from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
Governing with our hands tied
There’s another pressing problem: the fact that we didn’t collect this data in the past makes it even harder to come up with a policy response to the crisis today. Even as we begin disaggregating data now, we suffer from the problem of not being able to compare it to data before the pandemic began.
Not having access to this fine-tuned data means government officials are forced to operate with one hand tied behind their back in formulating health and social policies in response to COVID-19.