Poor medical student welfare—a growing threat to healthcare

Abstract

The events of the last year have highlighted the importance of healthcare systems and of those who work in them to the wellbeing and functioning of society. As SARS-CoV2 has swept around the world, touching every family in every country and causing millions of deaths directly, scenes of exhausted health workers in overwhelmed hospitals have been seen in many countries. High-income countries have for once been severely affected, and social and economic inequalities in those societies have been brought into sharp relief by significantly higher death rates amongst the poor, the mentally ill, and those from ethnic minority groups. As we enter the longer-term phase of ‘COVID management’, issues are arising regarding the fair distribution of vaccines (so-called ‘vaccine nationalism’) and the need for ongoing supplies of protective and medical equipment.