The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic ; A syndemic perspective

Funding Information: Paula Saraiva for the support with bibliography. Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e Tecnologia for funds to GHTM UID/04413/2020. CTDR is supported by CNPq, Brazil, through a Productivity Research Fellowship and is a ?Cientista do Nosso Estado? by Faperj, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Funding Information: Paula Saraiva for the support with bibliography. Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia for funds to GHTM UID/04413/2020 . CTDR is supported by CNPq , Brazil, through a Productivity Research Fellowship and is a “Cientista do Nosso Estado” by Faperj, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors ; The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected communities, populations, and countries throughout the world. As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic developed, the extent to which the disease interacted with already existing endemic, non-communicable and infectious diseases became evident, hence deeply influencing health outcomes. Additionally, a synergistic effect has been demonstrated also with socio-economic, cultural, and contextual determinants of health which seem to contribute to poorer health and accumulating social disadvantages. In this essay, using as a starting point the syndemic theory that translates the cumulative and intertwined factors between different epidemics, we argue that the SARS-CoV-2 is a one health issue of a syndemic nature and that the failure to acknowledge this contributes to weakened policy-making processes and public health responses and ineffective health policies and programs. ; publishersversion ; published