Interdependent Determinants of Health and Death? Examining the Linkages between Health Equity, Human Rights, and Democracy during COVID-19

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been characterised by health inequities in differential rates of COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality and differential access to essential COVID-19-related health care interventions such as vaccines. Inequities through the pandemic have deeply illuminated the interdependence between health inequities, human rights, and democratic leadership and the imperative to delve more deeply into these key determinants of health, illness, and death.

Methods: In this paper, we consider what COVID-19 suggests we should be learning about the relationships between democracy, human rights, and health equity. We first elaborate on the growing prominence of the framework and discourse of health equity. We turn to elaborate on a longer-standing trend of democratic backsliding and populist leadership during COVID-19. We consider human rights violations and domestic and global inequities that have characterised COVID-19 and COVID responses.

Findings and conclusions: The pandemic has illustrated how rights-violating, negligent, and inequitable political leadership can deeply determine health outcomes. It has equally shown how democratic norms and institutions, including human rights and equity, offer discourse, standards, and tools that can be effectively used to challenge inequitable leadership on health. More fundamentally, it underscores how great the need is for approaches to public health emergencies rooted in human rights, equity, and good governance, including through a pandemic treaty in negotiation.