Disability and Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Public Service Research Group, School of Business, UNSW, Canberra, Australia.
Disabil Health J. 2021 Apr;14(2):101050. doi: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2020.101050. Epub 2020 Dec 5.
COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing difficulties children and adults with disability face accessing quality health care. Some people with disability are at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 because they require support for personal care and are unable to physically distance, e.g. those living in congregate settings. Additionally, some people with disability have health conditions that put them at higher risk of poor outcomes if they become infected. Despite this, governments have been slow to recognise, and respond to, the unique and diverse health care needs of people with disability during COVID-19. While some countries, including Australia, have improved access to high-quality health care for people with disability others, like England, have failed to support their citizens with disability. In this Commentary we describe the health care responses of England and Australia and make recommendations for rapidly improving health care for people with disability in the pandemic and beyond.
COVID-19 加剧了儿童和成年残疾人士在获得优质医疗保健方面面临的先前存在的困难。一些残疾人士感染 COVID-19 的风险更大，因为他们需要个人护理支持，无法保持身体距离，例如那些居住在集中居住环境中的人。此外，一些残疾人士患有使他们在感染后出现不良后果风险更高的健康状况。尽管如此，各国政府在 COVID-19 期间对残疾人士独特而多样化的医疗保健需求的认识和应对都很缓慢。虽然包括澳大利亚在内的一些国家已经改善了残疾人士获得高质量医疗保健的机会，但其他国家，如英国，未能为其残疾公民提供支持。在本评论中，我们描述了英国和澳大利亚的医疗保健应对措施，并为在大流行期间及以后迅速改善残疾人士的医疗保健提出了建议。
