A country report: impact of COVID-19 and inequity of health on South Korea’s disabled community during a pandemic

Abstract

The South Korean media boasts of its leading success–during the escalation of the coronavirus outbreak–in flattening of the curve thereby mitigating the grave outcomes of the public health crisis. Much of the success is reportedly attributed to the rapid and advanced development of test kits, essential equipment and implementation of protocols in precautionary measures. However, it has been an arduous task to stay afloat for one particular vulnerable community. The disabled citizens of Korea were confronted by the realities of health inequity during this disastrous period. Pre-existing the pandemic onset, the disabled community have faced stigmatization and under many circumstances de-prioritization by their own society. Through the lense of a visiting physician, my hope is to poignantly and respectfully share personal experiences and thoughts on these realties impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea.

Keywords:

• Disability
• health inequity and disparity
• pandemic
• S. Korea

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript was made possible by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (#HI18C0552) and Brain Pool Scholar's Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (#2019H1D3A2A01101579).