The Disparities and Risk of COVID-19 in Black and Brown Nurses in the United Kingdom- a Public Health Issue in England

COVID-19 does not discriminate, but people do, and evidence clearly identifies that in society, Black and Brown (B&B) communities are disproportionally negatively affected in education, work, housing, criminal justice system, and health.B&B healthcare workers in the National health service (NHS), the public service that provides free health care at the point of access to all in the UK, were affected in unprecedented numbers by COVID-19 deaths compared to their White counterparts. The way that the British government used the NHS and through public health initiatives when responding to the pandemic has shed light on the racially based inequalities and social determinants of health that exist in society and for female B&B nurses.

Using postcolonial feminist theory, the reasons for these higher numbers of deaths is based on the colonial history of B&B women’s gender being constructed in a way that is racialised and disadvantaged. B&B women have been made invisible, powerless, and used only when necessary to provide a service to White colonial masters both male and female and that these power relations are still in place today. British colonial power laid the foundations for the institutional racism that today is perpetuated and sustained within public health at the height of the pandemic and persistently influences public health decision making.