The Covid-19 pandemic has not only highlighted stark inequalities between countries. It has also drawn attention to deprivation within high-income countries. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, argues that the devastation wrought by coronavirus in the UK and the U.S. should be understood as a “syndemic” or “synergistic epidemic.” In other words, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic can only be understood if we take into account the pre-existing pandemics of poverty and obesity that were already ravaging wealthy societies.
