Healthcare during COVID-19 in Canada: Need for Strengthening Providers’ Capacity for Best Practices in African, Caribbean and Black Community Service Provision

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a threat of unprecedented scale for societies, business, and healthcare systems across the world. In Canada and the United States, the immigrants including the African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) community and those of Hispanic origin are facing the brunt of the pandemic and account for a disproportionately higher percentage of hospital admission and mortality from the virus. Needless to mention, these ACB community are also the most disadvantaged socioeconomic demographic strata in North America who share a not only a heightened risk of infection, but also the adverse health, social, and financial consequences that arise from the lockdown and similar adjustment policies. In Canada, the ACB community share a long-standing history of social marginalization and have shown to represent the population with highest prevalence of HIV and other infectious diseases, to which COVID-19 seems to be no exception. The situation is extraordinarily challenging and requires bold and comprehensive policy measure to remedy the short-term outcomes and building resilience for the caregiving of ACB population in the long-term. This can be achieved by conducting expert assessments regarding the current knowledge gaps and formulating evidence-based strategies and best-practice policies. The current paper presents the views of experts on social indicators, health disparity and infectious diseases in an effort to shed light on the current knowledge gaps in the COVID-care for the ACB population, and thereby propose some policies to address these gaps.