The enormous racial and social class inequities associated with illness and death from COVID-19 across the world have been much discussed (if little addressed). But the knowledge inequities undergirding this situation are less known.
COVID-19 Knowledge Equity – A Mutual Learning Space was a collaborative and participatory workshop that took place on Monday, 11 April 2022 from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST online via Zoom. This session discussed three aspects of how COVID-19 media coverage, research, and policies have entrenched inequities in global health knowledge production and sharing:
- The exclusion of Indigenous Knowledge in state responses and negative discourses surrounding the use of traditional therapies;
- Long-standing power relations that hierarchize knowledge inequity as they relate to COVID-19 vaccine innovation, production, and access in the Global South and;
- The lack of recognition of successful early public health responses in the Global South.
Hosted by the Knowledge Equity Lab, the workshop was scheduled for 60 minutes in a public and recorded session, followed by a 30-minute round-table discussion with experts in global/international health, knowledge equity, and access to medicines.
Discussants include Achal Prabhala – writer and researcher, and Kate Decter Ph.D. candidate.