Congratulations to Associate Professor Neda Maghbouleh for her new peer-reviewed article titled, “COVID-19 Disparities Among Arab, Middle Eastern, and West Asian Populations in Toronto: Implications for Improving Health Equity Among Middle Eastern and North African Communities in the United States,” published in Health Promotion Practice.
In the article, Maghbouleh uses racial and ethnic identity and COVID-19 hospitalization data collected by Toronto Public Health to determine the rates of infection for Middle Eastern North African (MENA) communities. She compares this data with infection and hospitalization data for White patients and finds that MENA populations have higher rates of both infection and hospitalization.
The study highlights the lack of public health data on MENA communities in the United States, which makes it difficult to conduct US-based studies and to support COVID inequity research. Maghbouleh emphasizes the need for data collection on MENA individuals in order to better support sociological health and equity initiatives. The full article is available to read and download on the publisher's website.