Promoting Health Equity in the Era of COVID-19

Across the United States, it is now apparent that the COVID-19 virus is exacerbating existing societal biases and longstanding inequities in health care, resulting in an excess of morbidity and mortality in underserved populations. The Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) is committed to eliminating disparities, and increasing awareness of the
critical issues that contribute to the differential outcomes experienced by gynecologic oncology patients. Health equity, defined as fairness and justice, exists only when people have an equal opportunity to be healthy. Health inequity, therefore, is the unfair and avoidable difference in health status seen within and between countries. When defined structures or systems limit a person’s ability to be healthy, inequities emerge. It is our goal to make gynecologic cancer patients, their caregivers and providers, aware of the issues that have been revealed, and amplified during the current global health crisis.