Preparing for COVID-19’s potentially devastating aftermath: Focusing on simple steps to address social determinants of health

For many countries across the world we are seeing unprecedented economic declines and, in some cases, the largest collapses in business activity ever recorded.2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Unlike the 2008 Global Financial Collapse which took at least 4-5 years before we reached a reasonable steady state for our citizens,7 the current crisis affects nearly all sectors of our economy with several companies already going out of business. Recovery from COVID’s aftermath will take years.
While we wait to recover economically, we know from the 2008 Global Financial Collapse that we will see a large increase in social and health needs including worsening living standards, well-being reductions, decreased educational achievement, increased rates of suicide and increase in poor mental health, many of which will stem from unemployment. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 All of these social and health needs will likely precipitate an increase in inequalities
and social fragmentation.9