Welcome to Module 1, Lesson 1 of the online training class on social work during and after the pandemic. First, we will go over this short theoretical rundown of vulnerabilities and vulnerable groups. Next, we will talk about the inequalities that have been brought to the surface and have been exacerbated due to the pandemic, and last, we will give a short summary about this introductory lesson. First, a theoretical rundown of vulnerabilities and vulnerable groups. To some extent, group vulnerability can be defined in terms of personal factors, such as age, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. However, it also involves several additional interconnected dimensions, such as contextual factors. Contextual vulnerability is determined by societal factors such as one's living environment, social and economic standing, neighborhood and community resources, and intimate and instrumental support. Vulnerabilities can be multiple and may intersect and change over time. Health and welfare problems may multiply vulnerability as they put individuals at risk of homelessness, inadequate nutrition, poor physical and mental health, isolation, exploitation, abuse, and high-risk behavior, thereby increasing the overall risk of harm. Vulnerability is also depending from circumstances, for example, the availability of education, health services, or food. Thus, we can say that vulnerability is shaped by both personal and environmental factors and that it changes over time and according to circumstances. Although being labeled as vulnerable may ensure that a group receives particular attention or that its specific needs are met, using this label also carries important caveats. First, vulnerability is often based on the so-called objective characteristic, such as age, gender, or presence of clearly identifiable physical characters. Although it is clear that these objective characteristics may indicate greater vulnerability, this does not mean that individuals within these vulnerable groups are indeed in need of additional support and or protection, and even more importantly, individuals who are not belong to a designated vulnerable group may be in need of extra support and or protection. Labeling certain groups as vulnerable made this mask the fact that individuals who are not members of a recognized vulnerable group may have huge needs and therefore need to be supported accordingly. Because of this, it seems to be important to put forward a needs-based and individualized care trajectory where needs assessment is then carried out on an individual level, and support is allocated according to specific context-dependent needs of an individual and not only according to assumptions about the group or category a person belongs to. Now that we have a better understanding of how to look at vulnerabilities, we will give a short overview of the emerging evidence that exists on the unequal impacts of COVID-19 and policy measures on different people. The WHO Regional Office for Europe describes three different mechanisms by which the socioeconomic effects of COVID-19 can exacerbate or create new inequities. Firstly, COVID-19 can give raise to health inequities due to differential severity of outcomes, differential long-term effects and differential exposure. All of these may create or increase preexisting socioeconomic inequities and other non-COVID-19 health conditions. Secondly, the unequal socioeconomic impact of policy measures to contain the pandemic may create non-COVID-19 health inequities and these conditions may themselves predisposed to subsequent inequities and adverse outcomes of COVID-19. Third, socioeconomic inequities can increase the risk of other non-COVID-19 related health inequalities, non-COVID-19 related to health effects, and directly caused by policy measures to contain COVID-19, or as consequences of health issues related to COVID-19 infections can also reinforce existing health and socioeconomic inequalities. The combined effects of these mechanisms can particularly affect groups defined as vulnerable. As some of these groups, which were already considered vulnerable before the pandemic, are likely to be at higher risk of experiencing the negative health effects and socioeconomic impacts through all the above-mentioned mechanisms. Last, we will give a short summary of this lesson. When talking about vulnerable groups or vulnerable people and how to support them, we need to take into account that vulnerability is shaped by both personal and contextual factors and that changes over time and according to circumstances. It is not wise to assess someone's need for support only based on the group that they are part of. Also in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we learned that there are different aspects that need to be taken into account. There are mechanisms and interactions at work that can give rise to different types of health or just inequalities. As these mechanisms are cyclical, they can often reinforce each other, and therefore exacerbate health and socioeconomic inequities even further. Thank you for listening to the first lesson of this online training.
